聯合國正運作將伊拉克境內的美索不達米亞沼澤地列為世界遺產場址。同時，伊拉克政府正打算將此濕地規劃為國家公園。
美索不達米亞曾被世人認定為聖經伊甸園所在地，然而，這些範圍廣衾的濕地被海珊政權破壞了90%。 經過聯合國和地方政府的努力，目前沼澤地已經恢復了60%，並且為當地居民導入太陽能發電。
這項指定沼澤地為世界遺產的提案於9月5日在日本京都的會議上通過。這個由義大利政府提供資金援助的提議，目的是保護這塊濕地，並強調其在全球文化，自然和環境上的重要性。
人在日本開會的伊拉克環境部長歐斯瑪（Narmin Othman）說，「我非常高興我們將劃設沼澤地成為國家公園和非常重要的世界遺產。過去因為海珊的所作所為，沼澤地面臨完全消失的危機，和沼澤地阿拉伯人（Marsh Arab）數世紀的文化落入一樣的下場。這不只是生態浩劫，更是一場人類史上的悲劇。現在我們已恢復約50-60%的沼澤地，我們期待能更進一步地改善，並將之作為伊拉克第一個具全球影響力的世界自然／文化遺產。｣
伊拉克環境、水資源、市政和公共工程的各部會，以及沼澤地首長正與聯合國部門進行合作，擘劃沼澤地策略性管理和發展計畫。
根據管理世界遺產條約的聯合國教科文組織，伊拉克最早能在2010年向世界遺產委員會提出申請。如果能通過，美索不達米亞沼澤地將在2011年被列入世界遺產。
世界遺產管理支援計畫追隨一項為期4年共1400萬美元，由聯合國環境規劃署執行的專案，負責回復該地生態機能，同時為沼澤阿拉伯人帶來生計。
這些具有5,000年歷史的巴比倫人與蘇美人後裔，和他們的濕地故鄉一起成為前伊拉克政權的眼中釘。多達30萬人被強迫流放，或者在伊拉克國境內紮營維生。
另一方面，底格裡斯河與幼發拉底河上游水庫的興建，減少了水流量，因此減低了維持濕地生存的動能，並且增加污染物的集中程度。西元2000年，該地區超過90%鹽化，受到嚴重損害的生態系統更因排水工程的建設而更形惡化。
聯合國環境規劃署曾估計，除非在3至5年內採取緊急行動，沼澤地將會永遠消失。而隨著海珊政權在2003年中垮台，當地居民開始破壞排水堤防並打開防洪閘門將水引導入沼澤地。
「基於各式各樣的原因，在伊拉克沼澤地的工作是獨特且充滿挑戰的。但是我們所學習到的不只適用於伊拉克。他們提供了一種藍圖，適用於恢復世界上許多已被破壞但具經濟價值的重要濕地生態系統。｣聯合國環境規劃署執行長史坦納如此表示。
這將包括一些試驗性項目，如社區生態系統管理、文化保護，以及能力培養上，並由聯合國教科文組織和伊拉克當局共同參與。同時，目前，相關單位已建立一個「沼澤地資訊網絡」，進行相關人員訓練──包含衛星與田野監測、濕地恢復與管理等，都已納入計畫，在京都會議上進行最後評估。
在9月5日的會議上，環境部長歐斯瑪請求聯合國環境規劃署支持伊拉克正式加入多邊環境協議，使伊拉克能參與地球所面臨的國際環境挑戰與機會。
他所提的多邊環境協議包括：生物多樣化公約、與破壞臭氧層物質相關的蒙特婁議定書、遷徙物種公約，和聯合國氣候變遷綱要公約等。
The United Nations is moving to list the Marshlands of Mesopotamia in Iraq as a World Heritage site. At the same time, the government of Iraq is moving to designate this wetland area as a national park.
Believed to be the location of the Biblical Garden of Eden, these once vast wetlands were 90 percent destroyed by the Saddam Hussein regime.
UN and local efforts have restored 60 percent of the Marshlands, and introduced solar power to serve local residents.
The plan to designate the Marshlands as a World Heritage site was agreed at a meeting today in Kyoto, Japan. The initiative, to be supported by funding from the government of Italy, aims to further the conservation of this wetland of global cultural, natural and environmental importance.
Iraqi Environment Minister Narmin Othman, who is in Japan for the event, said, "I am very happy that we are now going to work towards making the Marshlands a national park and a globally important World Heritage Site."
"Because of what Saddam Hussein did, the marshlands were in danger of completely disappearing as was the centuries-old culture of the Marsh Arabs. It had become an ecological but also a human tragedy," she said.
"Now we have 50 to 60 percent of Marshlands back we can look forward to further improvements and putting them on the map as Iraq first mixed, natural and cultural World Heritage site as befits an area of global significance," said Othman.
The Iraqi ministries of environment, water resources, municipalities and public works, and the state minister for the marshlands are cooperating with the UN agencies to craft a marshland strategic management and development plan.
According to UNESCO, which manages the World Heritage treaty, the earliest that Iraq could make a submission to the World Heritage Committee might be 2010. If approved, the Marshlands of Mesopotamia could be listed as a World Heritage in 2011.
The World Heritage management support plan follows a four year, $14 million project undertaken by the UN Environment Programme to restore the ecological viability of the site while bringing sustainable livelihoods to its inhabitants, the Marsh Arabs.
These 5,000 year-old heirs of the Babylonians and the Sumerians, and their wetland home had been targeted by the former Iraqi government, which forced up to 300,000 of them into exile or camps in and outside Iraq.
Upstream dam construction on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers diminished water flows and eliminated the flood pulses that sustained wetlands in the lower basin, and increased pollution concentrations. By 2000, over 90 percent of the area had dried out to saltpans with severe ecosystem damage, accelerated by the construction of extensive drainage works.
The UN Environment Programme estimated then that the Marshlands would be completely lost within three to five years unless urgent action was taken.
With the collapse of the Saddam Hussein government in mid-2003, local residents began breaking the drainage embankments and opening the floodgates to bring water back into the marshlands.
"The work in the Iraqi Marshlands may have been unique and challenging for a whole variety of reasons. But the lessons we have learnt go beyond Iraq's border," Steiner said. "They provide a blueprint for the restoration for the many other damaged, degraded and economically important wetland ecosystems across the world."
This will include pilot projects on community-wide ecosystem management and cultural preservation as well as capacity building, jointly with UNESCO and the Iraqi authorities.
A Marshland Information Network has been established. Training in satellite and field monitoring and wetland restoration and management has also been part of project which today completed its final evaluation phase at the Kyoto meeting.
At today's meeting, Environment Minister Othman requested that UNEP provide support for Iraq's accession to multilateral environmental agreements so that Iraq can take part in the international environmental challenges and opportunities facing the planet.
Multilateral environmental agreements include the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Convention of Migratory Species and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
