Conservation Knows No Boundaries

A Basra reed warbler and its young. Photo courtesy: Mudhafar Salim/Nature Iraq

The Mesopotamian Marshes, a vast expanse of reeds and open water twice the size of Norfolk, are the largest wetland ecosystem in the Middle East and support a number of species of global conservation concern. The marshes hold the only breeding population of the globally-endangered Basra reed warbler and the world's highest wintering numbers of the threatened marbled duck.

Now the marshes are under threat again, this time from the building of huge dams in Turkey on the Tigris and Euphrates, the rivers that feed and nourish a wetland complex so important for biodiversity as well as being the homelands of the Marsh Arabs, made famous by the writings of Wilfred Thesiger. The charity Nature Iraq is actively campaigning to influence the building and use of these giant structures that can have such a devastating effect for the lives of people and wildlife.

Construction of a 'mudhief' (reed house). Photo courtesy: Mudhafar Salim/Nature Iraq

Another NI major activity has been surveying more than 220 sites throughout Iraq to identify the country's key areas for biodiversity. Often in difficult and very dangerous circumstance these surveys by young NI biologists have spanned seven years, summer and winter, and are the first step towards establishing a network of protected areas. This is wonderful conservation work from a country where the daily news is rarely uplifting. They have already produced their own bird field guide – in Arabic – the first Middle East country to do so.

But it's not just conservation in Iraq that is NI's motivation. It may surprise many that this NGO has just made a donation of $1,000 to the Norfolk Wildlife Trust's £1m appeal to purchase 143 acres of land next to Cley Marshes on England's North Norfolk coast. Nature Iraq has received much help from colleagues in the UK, especially through BirdLife International, and makes this donation as an act of global support for the protection of marshes everywhere.

Dr Azzam Alwash, the president of NI, who was instrumental in the programme of re-flooding the Mesopotamian Marshes after years of drainage under the Saddam regime and has stayed in Cley village during visits to England, explains the reasoning behind the donation: "Nature Iraq has received great support from international organisations for the conservation of our famous Mesopotamian Marshes. This small token to support the extension of Cley Marshes is to honour that support and show our brotherly care for the environment everywhere."

Iraq's first bird book. Photo courtesy: Richard Porter/Nature Iraq

He later tells me: "Wetlands are under attack worldwide and we need to draw parallels between the reedbeds of Cley and the marshes of Iraq. Those who are fighting the good fight need to help each other and learn from each other. Nature Iraq made the donation not only as a gesture of goodwill to wetland enthusiasts in the UK, but also in the hope of raising the profile of the marshes of Iraq within the community that loves wetlands, as we all need to work together to help pressure the Iraqi government, as well as the Turkish government and the Iranian government, to do the right thing and make sure that the marshes of Iraq survive the era of dam building and climate change."

Boat traffic in the Iraq marshes. Photo courtesy: Omar Fadhil/Nature Iraq

On the newly acquired land, the Norfolk Wildlife Trust will create more reed beds, grazing marsh and freshwater for marsh harriers, bitterns, bearded tits, otters, water voles and avocets which live at Cley Marshes; for the countless thousands of migratory birds which use it; and for the 100,000 people who visit each year – and for whom a new centre is to be built – the Simon Aspinall Education Centre, after the Middle East naturalist who lived in Cley.

Encouraged by the NWT education endeavours and those of the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), Nature Iraq is embarking on an exciting new programme to encourage Iraqi visitors to the Mesopotamian Marshes to witness the wonders of this national and global treasure. "If we can replicate some of the actions done by conservation bodies in Britain to make people appreciate wildlife, I will be a very happy man," Azzam said.

Proposed Airport Would Affect Thames River Estuary

Avocets are just one of the many species that rely on the Thames estuary to survive. Photo courtesy: Omar Torres/AFP/Getty

The reflections of redshank that shimmer in the wet silt of the Thames river estuary are an illusion: the birds appear still, but they are in a race against time to eat enough before the tide comes in and they retreat on land to wait for their next meal. To ingest enough energy to survive, they need to eat two insects a second.

Scenes like this capture why environment groups and nature lovers across Europe are so deeply opposed to building a new airport on the Thames estuary, an internationally important area for hundreds of thousands of migrating birds, for reptiles like the slow worm, for newts and water voles, and for rare insects that thrive on old industrial land.

Altogether, the airport land and surrounding areas and waters include five separate Special Protection Areas for passing or over-wintering avocet, hen harriers, ringed and golden plovers, marsh harriers, little tern, dunlin and pintail, as well as hosting one of a new breed of marine sites, this one designated for its population of 6,000-8,000 red-throated divers. There is a Special Area of Conservation preserved for its species-rich estuaries, mudflats and salt meadows. Much of the area is also covered by the Ramsar international convention on wetlands, recognising how crucial the estuary is for birds travelling as far afield as Siberia, Canada and north Africa.

A consultation on a proposal for a possible airport, as expected to be announced by the prime minister in March, is a long way from a blueprint for any new airport. But plans drawn up and published independently last year by the architect Sir Norman Foster and the consultants Halcrow give a good idea of the scale of such a development. It would involve building over a huge area of mudflats and far out into the river, taking up to a quarter of the existing channel, according to the RSPB; the charity's famous logo features the avocet, which lives nearby.

Such a massive pouring of concrete and tarmac would itself cover a giant swathe of the plant- and animal-rich tidal zone, as well as the land where wading birds retreat at high tide. Further sites, up and down the estuary and river, would be affected by tides forced to flow around the runways and buildings. Add to that expectations that much more of the region would have to be sterilised of birds to reduce the potentially catastrophic risk of them striking the engines of aeroplanes, and the RSPB conservation director, Martin Harper, has described the proposal as an "act of vandalism".

In addition to the physical stress would be the noise, vibrations and the impact of industrial activity the airport would attract to the area. These, too, affect birds like the redshank, which live on the edge of survival as they struggle to build up the energy to survive between feeds in often bitter temperatures and winds. "If they have got to fly further [to find food], or they are disturbed, you are affecting the edge they are living on," said Nik Shelton, an RSPB spokesman.

All this is not to mention the additional problem of aircraft pollution, in particular emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides and water vapour contrails.

With no concrete plans yet articulated, it is hard to assess the potential climate-forcing effect of a new hub airport. But Foster's draft envisages four 4km runways, built to carry up to 150 million passengers a year. By contrast, the UK's independent Committee on Climate Change report on aviation emissions in 2009 estimated that, in order to meet the government's target for the middle of the century of limiting greenhouse gases to 2005 levels or below, ministers needed to limit demand increases to 60% – or 138 million more passengers. By itself, then, without any growth at other (often underutilised) UK airports, a new Thames Hub would increase capacity beyond what is recommended.

The coalition government has the option to drop that Labour cap on aviation emissions, but it would have to argue the case with industry, agriculture and other sectors for increasing aviation's already generous projected quarter-share of emissions in 2050.

On both fronts, wildlife and climate change, the proposals alone – even without approval – will be another blow to the Conservatives' already fragile environmental credentials, which helped rehabilitate the party in opposition. "David Cameron's pledge to lead the greenest government ever will ring hollow if he gives the green light to a huge expansion in air travel," said Andy Atkins, Friends of the Earth's executive director.