In partnership with the Arab American Educational Foundation

Two great rivers - the Tigres and the Euphrates - created the largest wetland ecosystem in Western Eurasia. In this vast fertile region, civilization was born 5,000 years ago, the first literate societies emerged, cities developed, and trade and complex state bureaucracies evolved. The Marsh Arabs are descendants of the ancient Sumerians and Akkadians and are groups of tribal people who make their home in this lush environment. This group of people developed a unique culture in antiquity centered on the natural resources of the marshes. All of this changed in the 1990s due to warfare and environmental destruction. Today, this group is endangered. Cultural and environmental destruction threatens all of us, not only the Marsh Arabs.  By working to preserve their culture, we are working to preserve a part of collective humanity and to discover lessons for solving future issues involving cultural and ecological destruction. 

This is their story.

Dr. Zaid Alrawi, The University of Pennsylvania