Threats to the environment posed by war in Iraq
Birdlife International
“Until recently the impact of war on nature has often been ignored or
obscured by the conflict itself. As the 1990-1991 Gulf War showed, such
conflicts have devastating effects on the environment, biodiversity and the
quality of life of local people long after the cessation of hostilities”, said
Dr Michael Rands, Director and Chief Executive of BirdLife International.
Environmental impacts of the 1990 -1991 Gulf War
In 1991 BirdLife International and RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) sent three teams
of scientists to the Gulf region to collaborate with the National Commission for
Wildlife Conservation and Development (BirdLife in Saudi Arabia) to assess the
environmental impacts of the war and resulting toxic oil pollution. The results
of these and other assessments were published in 1993 in Sandgrouse, the Journal
of the Ornithological Society of the Middle East.
These and other published data show that the 1990-1991 Gulf War resulted in
by far the largest marine oil spills in history with 6-8 million barrels of
crude oil spilled, severely polluting 560km of coast, totally obliterating
intertidal ecosystems and resulting in large-scale oil slicks. Severe damage to
marine environments in the northern Arabian Gulf resulted. Extensive mechanical
damage by the manoevering armies also harmed the fragile desert crust and its
ecosystem.
The environmental damage resulting from the 1990-1991 Gulf War was judged to
be unprecedented according to a number of sources. On 19th January 1991, crude
oil from five bombed oil tankers moored off the Mina Al-Ahmadi oil terminal and
nearby oil pipelines in Kuwait produced a slick extending south-eastwards over
1,500km2. At the same time another major oil slick was reported from the Mina
Al-Bakr terminal in Iraq.
Other oil spills occurred at Basrah refinery at the mouth of the Shatt
Al-Arab, from refineries on the coast of Kuwait, and from the storage depot at
Al-Khafji just south of the Kuwait-Saudi Arabian border.
At the end of the Gulf War in March 1991 a total of 650 inland oil wells were
left ablaze, 76 gushing crude oil and a further 99 were damaged. This resulted
in 25-30 million barrels of crude oil spilling onto land with the larger of the
numerous oil lakes estimated to cover 19km2. The last of the gushing wells were
capped after nine months in November 1991.
In addition to gushing oil, it was calculated that 13,700 tonnes of toxic
smoke poured daily into the atmosphere from the burning oil wells that spread
many hundreds of miles and had respiratory and carcinogenic effects. At least
25% of Kuwait's desert was covered in oil or heavy deposits of acidic, oily
soot. Many birds mistook the oil lakes for water from the air and landed on or
next to them where many became oiled and died, while many others were affected
when flying through smoke or by their sooty surroundings. The oil lakes and
spills led to the evaporation of toxins into the atmosphere and contamination of
groundwater.
More than twenty chemical, biological and possibly nuclear factories and
stores were destroyed or badly damaged, and toxins widely dispersed, and
hundreds of tonnes of depleted uranium from radioactive shell materials
reportedly discharged by US forces, mostly in and around the Hamar marsh, during
heavy fighting at the end of the 1990-1991 Gulf War.
Up to 90% of Kuwait's desert surface was compacted, churned or otherwise
impacted by military activities and desertification was greatly exacerbated.
Valuable farmland habitat was destroyed and all existing protected areas for
nature conservation were damaged. In the Jal Az-Zawr National Park most habitats
were seriously impacted by military activities such as bunker construction,
excavations and vehicle movements, and most of its fencing and gates were
destroyed. The Doha Peninsula Reserve was also seriously impacted by military
activities.
Counts of dead seabirds including the globally threatened Socotra Cormorant
along the northern Arabian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia indicated that at least
30,000 wintering seabirds were killed by the Gulf War oil spills during
January-April 1991.
Seven Risks to the environment and biodiversity
Based on the unprecedented environmental damage caused by the 1990-1991 Gulf
War and available data on the environmental effects of recent conflicts in
Yugoslavia and Afghanistan, BirdLife has identified seven risks to the
environment and biodiversity - and as a consequence also to local people - posed
by war:
1. Physical destruction and disturbance of natural habitats of international
importance and wildlife resulting from weapons use
2. Toxic pollution of natural habitats and wildlife resulting from oil spills
or oil-well fires caused by fighting or deliberate damage
3. Radiological, chemical or bio-toxic contamination of natural habitats and
wildlife resulting from the use of weapons of mass destruction and conventional
bombing of military or industrial facilities
4. Physical destruction of natural habitats and wildlife resulting from
increased human pressure caused by mass movements of refugees (ie, water
pollution, use of wood as fuel, hunting of wildlife)
5. Burning of wetland and forest vegetation as a result of fighting or
deliberate damage
6. Desertification exacerbated by military vehicles and weapons use
7. Extinction of endemic species or subspecies
Iraq has a number of internationally important natural areas, in particular
Important Bird Areas (IBAs). "Waders and waterbirds will be particularly at
risk from oil spills because Iraq is at the northern end of the Arabian Gulf
which is one of the top five sites in the world for wintering wader birds and a
key refuelling area for hundreds of thousands of migratory waterbirds during the
spring and autumn period" said Mike Evans, a BirdLife researcher who
visited the Arabian Gulf in 1991.
Many of the natural habitats and sites impacted in the 1990-1991 Gulf War
will be at risk again [in the present war].
A new war could result in physical destruction of natural areas and wildlife
in Iraq and the northern Arabian Gulf. The main habitats in Iraq are:
* Wetlands (<5%)
* Coastal (<5%)
* Desert (<80% of land)
* Steppe (<15% of land)
* Forest and high mountain scrub (<5% of land)
Iraq contains 42 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and the Mesopotamian marshes
Endemic Bird Area (EBA). Sixteen globally threatened or near-threatened bird
species occur in the country, plus three unique endemic wetland bird species
(Iraq Babbler, Basra Reed Warbler, Grey Hypocolius) and five endemic or
near-endemic marshland sub-species (Little Grebe, African Darter, Black
Francolin, White-eared Bulbul, Hooded Crow) [10].
"It was the heart-rending image of an oiled bird that became a symbol of
the environmental impact of the first Gulf War. BirdLife International hopes
that images of oiled birds do not once again fill our television screens in
2003", said Dr Rands.
Mesopotamian marshlands
Before their near-total destruction between 1991 and 2002, the 15,000km2
Mesopotamian marshlands formed one of the most extensive wetland ecosystems in
western Eurasia. It comprised a complex of interconnected freshwater lakes,
marshes and inundated floodplains following the Tigris and Euphrates rivers,
extending from Baghdad in the north to Basra in the south. Approximately 50km2
may remain. These remnants would have the potential to help restore the
marshlands.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report The Mesopotamian
Marshlands shows that destruction of the marshes in the 1990s had a devastating
effect on wildlife and people, "with significant implications to global
biodiversity from Siberia to southern Africa ... Mammals and fish that existed
only in the marshlands are now considered extinct. Coastal fisheries in the
northern Gulf, dependent on the marshlands for spawning grounds, have also
experienced a sharp decline." A sub-species of Otter and the Bandicoot Rat
are also believed to have become extinct [11].
The impact of this destruction has also deprived the indigenous Ma’dan
people who have lived in these marshes for 5,000 years, pursuing a sustainable
way of life based on the abundant fish and wildlife living in the wetlands, of
their traditional homeland. These marshlands were also important spawning
grounds for a multi-million dollar shrimp fishery in the Arabian Gulf and also
provided 60% of fish eaten in Iraq. Most of Iraq’s rice, sugarcane and Water
Buffalo used to be reared in the marshlands.
They were also heavily degraded by the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. Much of the
fighting took place in and around these wetlands resulting in extensive burning,
heavy bombing and the widespread use of napalm and chemical weapons. [The war
being waged in Iraq now] could lead to their final destruction.
More Information
[16/02/03] BirdLife International identified the main threats to the environment posed
by war in Iraq in a dossier of information, maps and photographs sent to the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the five permanent members of the
UN Security Council (China, France, Russia, the UK and USA) and the Government
of Iraq. The dossier highlights threats to local people and key natural sites
critical for globally threatened and endemic biodiversity in Iraq and the
endangered Mesopotamian wetlands and will also be posted on the internet.
For further information please contact Communications Manager Michael Szabo at
BirdLife International on (+44) 01223 277318 or (+44) 07779 018 332 (mobile).
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