today there are fewer boots on the tigris compared with when he started out with his father. making a living here is tougher now than ever. dad has been through appalling of people in the past three decades and that has affected the river environment as much as the land. at war. with one. or. heard around and will. be here. as the capital baghdad has been the focus of the outside attacks and internal turmoil that have hit iraq in recent years.

but for the people of the marshlands in the south disruption to their way of life goes back further to the one nine hundred fifty s. . in some ways little has changed here for the past hundred years nets are still produced and hung just as they've always been. the long canoe shaped fishing boats are still builds to the same design as they were in the nineteenth century. but between the nineteen fifties and one nine hundred ninety s. large areas of the wetlands in the. tigris euphrates river system where people like

i will hide that and his wife live were trained. the reasons were primarily political to force the mare down people or marsh arabs out of the area by diverting water and to punish them for their part in an uprising against saddam for staines government in one nine hundred ninety one. saddam reduced the nine thousand square kilometers of what climbed to the one nine hundred seventy s. to just seven hundred and sixty square kilometers when his government fell in two thousand and three. the displacement of over two hundred thousand marsh arabs and the campaign of violence against them let the international community to condemn it as ethnic cleansing. the united nations has described the draining of the marshes as

a tragic human and environmental catastrophe on a par with the deforestation of the amazon rain forest. but the marshes were later reflooded and hyde and his wife returned to the water. on a local affair and i got around. to hear. them read the heart of the middle very. very well you know how with the you know i left the war. right now long one tab there are no i am astounded at marco. ah. i don't know if i had been telling the whole yarn a fatalist in atlanta why did i hate him. and why that. the plot of the film what did i see but the head when i saw the shiite identity of a lot of the video i have had i didn't go inside that's like me

a lot of other evidence you. know i've gotta sniff it out i never had my broken bottle and i seven of the want to know how did i was a little nervous. or what not to live your head out of heaven she was i leaned over sick of the man of the well god bless him said what i said but honest of she with a wide what on this since you have no clue why don't have a side issue that you know if you've never had what i'd want to be loving always glad i got on the console and there you live. god you know what i'd live in and if you've been to. a guided id be it if you go it was warrior. who was going. they had a very little article we're. going

to have to have when our. house will have our own will for what. you know. and what that article are. up to and don't hide there's area of champaign is now recovering thanks to the reflooding following the fall of saddam hussein in two thousand and three.

large areas of the marsh and and three ancient cities have now been included in the us schools list of world heritage sites but the reflooding has not restored the wetlands to their pre-drilling it states. the damage to the iraqi environment has also not been limited to the marshlands. iraq as a whole has suffered massive turmoil in the past thirty years. saddam's invasion of kuwait in august one nine hundred ninety led to the first gulf war and defeat by a coalition led by the united states the effect on the country was described as near apocalyptic taking iraq back to the pre-industrial age. then the two thousand and three u.s. led invasion of iraq and fall of saddam hussein's government the occupation and violent insurgency caused further widespread destruction the armed group i saw

was a major part of the post-war insurgency its military activity in iraq and the campaign against it by the iraqi government and western forces have led to huge damage to infrastructure and the environment. the tigris in baghdad where ahmed khalid ekes out a living has been badly affected by this prolonged period of violence and instability . if i'm with a. lot of fun a social. i don't have the belief. that she was one of the best so much usual that. if. she doesn't i'm innocent.

all of i know one. was. not head to. head the cia would not have. been a had on the other not a question any in the head and fear. the instability and tighten security. have led to an increased police presence on the river. harvey. said i want to. know something to come or so not when we. do just that is about a fellow with one of those or innocent had to get through with them i mean the moment

i think. right. in the way. i believe i got. my lodge and they didn't. want to. know. that i was on the one on the back with a gun because i want to. its problems on the tigris are to do with restrictions on his movement but on the euphrates in the south the issue is with water quality. salt levels have risen because of dams higher up the river in syria and turkey

there is waste from agriculture. and sewage from cities all if. used. was. bad. and the good bishop of feeding.

at the door. from one end of. the war. couldn't lives in a city a city where people cannot drink the water from the euphrates because of the drop in water level increasing its salinity. furthermore in late twenty

eighty nine tens of thousands of freshwater fish died in the euphrates south of baghdad and soaring pollution is believed to be a major factor behind the sudden death of the fish i mean. how wildly how. men are. doing on a song that's a lot of. a lot of. how. you measure you don't. i mean it's not so much and if you watch all shop so much as it was me. not the muscle me this is the well i still. think i got like.

oh. no i don't. just. well just. the dams built up river on the euphrates in syria turkey and iran are also having an effect on the marshlands in southern iraq. this is impeding conservation and restoration efforts in the wetlands the dams have reduced the flow of water reaching iraq since one nine hundred seventy by as much as the hof. hundreds of

people have been forced to migrate from iraq's once fertile central marshes because of the lower water levels still at night and all i've not had and i don't know if at all they have a live in their feet quite not at all and i've never seen or made it hard to have so much of levy. now than we are now he'll be ok i know he's a flea i hope. of lego star i got here early one would have a right to a little one within your war room so i didn't want to do it all on my. world on monday you know did i was that good i did want to go i would argue. the.

punch out of my wealth and i know he didn't know how. one might and i didn't. know what i will yell and why did you in any of them have i. know we had it in. my head right now is there one lot of knowledge that you. i don't know. but the problems of the marshes and the upper rivers extend on a larger scale beyond the point where the two inch intruders the tigris and the euphrates merge at basra. from here the vast channel of the shuttle out of waterway runs through basra province into the gulf. coming up the shot a lot of waterway faces an environmental catastrophe it's taking with it livestock and fisheries and i believe the point. out there working and that you know what.

the animal from what i may and as this year is now in majority my leadership and i start here yeah even russia. and iraqi fishermen say they often fall foul of the kuwaiti indian we need these patrolling maritime borders on the frontline of the dispute that once led to out an outdoor other out all the yes a lot of output and where there are. then. you know out of them and well there are a lot of public work but not me that bellman of me and me and other in the rubble out of. many. of us are. being located outside that western centric sphere of influence we're able to bring

a different perspective to global events when you peel away the lists a covert military in the financial darkening you see the people in those worthless policies are affecting see the emotion on their faces the situation they're living in that's when all the us can identify with the story. rewind returns a can bring your people back to life or start with brand new updates on the best of al-jazeera documentaries in living i was the pope of the us a no i like and the other student rewind continues with josef's journey this is a. struggle continues book. for bob good to know. for his distance rewind on al-jazeera.

afghanistan has the best geology both mentally resources and i refer to why are they so poor emotional you guys when finally form a government that we may have the toxic land essentially now where the more we would close down the more they push back we knew it was coming to question was do we sit back and wait or do we surprise them with a preemptive strike talking about it and i'm just. hello i'm a saucy attain doha with the top stories on al-jazeera the u.s. is trying to get its aid into venezuela through a un security council resolution tons of food and medicine are stuck on the colombian border president maduro refuses to take it saying the aid is part of

efforts to force him from power murderous rival says efforts to keep out the aid almost genocidal. yeah i understand that they want to block the aid because that's what the victimizer does it makes them seem almost genocidal by their actions they're killing venezuelans killing children who are protesting killing fernando abandon opposition lawmaker i understand that they would want to deny this and not allowing the humanitarian aide the regime should know that this is a crime against humanity gentlemen of the armed forces talks to avert another government shutdown in the united states have stalled just days before a deadline over funding is due to expire there's a dispute between republicans and democrats over the detention of asylum seekers president donald trump agreed last month to end the thirty five day partial shutdown with a three week spending deal he wants billions of dollars for his long promised border wall but democrats are refusing to approve it israel's prime minister says

he intends to introduce a new door within a week that could cut the palestinian authority is revenue by millions of dollars a year the p.a. pays compensation to the families of those arrested by israel under the new law israel would deduct an amount equal to that compensation from taxes it collects for the palestinians and this trade in political strategist who has worked for britain's conservative party is being accused of offering to run a campaign aimed at canceling the twenty twenty two football world cup london's guardian newspaper says lynton crosby pitched a seven million dollar operation to pressure afifa to restart the bidding process crosby as lawyers deny any contracts were signed. the world's insects are on the path to extinction posing a catastrophic threat to our ecosystems that's according to the latest report published by a leading journal called the biological conservation it warns of forty percent of

insect species that in decline that's eight times faster than mammals bads and reptiles and this means all insects can vanish within a century those are the headlines the news continues here after al-jazeera wild. for thousands of years two famous rivers the tigris and euphrates made iraq one of the most fertile regions in the middle east. the first urban settlements grew up on the lines between them the cradle of civilization. but today things are dramatically different for the rivers and the people who depend on them decades of war sanctions upstream dams pollution and they fall in water levels have seriously damaged iraq's engines rivers and water resources.

the sutta lot of waterway runs one hundred and eighty four kilometers south from the confluence of the tigris and the euphrates in basra province and forms the border with iran. it provides access to the arabian gulf iraq's vital source of commercial sea fishing. either the deal how i just got off for zero out of the literal a i was resolved so. that donal's. don't live there. so the. world can i just. have to move on and already put some out of. a mob. and etc. i've been told i'm a bit here then mocking alan and he has some of the.

donovan out there are none. other can let david minute go into. the village on it unless i have to challenge and it would be a saudi in their little town selectman. me into simister ga to be a how hard to stuff on the engine and them as i had stalled here i don't how i think of this dollar but has. shown there and i can't be said hows and i don't mean any married to until it was march that if it's. some sort of time when. you would because. it is so i didn't do that with the club those who would. have been doing. the market

have been million in most of it the producers of the jeep you know there was a good much of it but how did you survive the demise of us you saw a bunch of them but the how to get them is about more than a good look around to. some of the other those of the. so the me any of them see that. is that. these boats now stand idle in the port of and foul at the south east end of the and fall peninsula on the right bank of the shuttle. rusting old diesel boats pollutes the waterways. and foul has around forty thousand inhabitants and is a traditional fishing community but town officials admit that's hundreds of families have now left in search of other work leaving the ports in danger of

becoming a ghost town. without. go ahead. an eternity. i was just going to come but nothing. about meeting. as i believe god to me has to be with me. but when my father. here did it is they were. right i want to. that is we're. on. our blog at that time our. one side of peninsula is a fifty kilometer stretch of coastline peace in kuwait. the

other as the shuttle watch away which runs alongside the marshes of southern iran. pollution. and produced fish stocks in their own territorial waters. have forced iraqi fishermen to risk sailing close to. the water is believing them richer in fish stocks or to deliberately trespassed into foreign waters in the hope of a quick and easy catch. these fishermen used to be protected by the iraqi navy but that's now to peta and largely kartini the country's oil terminals.

and. out of. out of me really a lot of. other. right. we are not and i thought i would tell you that i invest heavily two point. two i was always a lot of troops are well equipped throughout my had the money. has a lot of their leader why. they are going the. hero while the me i had. moved out of mt will be a. mess and a living will do it. then. and then where there are four of them. not that my robin is yet to do and i will say i do enjoy then. go out on them in. public finance meet up and minister mean mean

there is a lot of adults. many. of us on. as this pollution. and the perceived threats from kuwait and iran were not enough the fishermen on the shuttle are up and in the gulf have to deal with iraqi security checks. as one jalapeno developed the heart of a lot of the good market as you accused of are going to be they're no longer you could dorio about it are going to go to amazon and the hours that i'm going to let

go of it out because of the goal of unlike. other malaysian me you know that will have a lie or the gravel on it that they're going to do with those i don't buy on the out on an a lot of want it will. go to. the wrestle for control of the shuttle what i'm watching way was one of the causes of the long costly and bitter war between iraq and iran throughout most of the one nine hundred eighty s. . that's a border dispute is still not settled. or. kuwait and iraq have also yet to agree on a sea border in negotiations which have been going on since the dam for sands invasion of kuwait in one nine hundred ninety s. that sparked the confluence.

many fishermen at the docks iraqis are viewed with hostility by iranians and cretins who are still bitter over their conflicts with iraq in the one nine hundred eighty s. and ninety's. on the shuttle the in basra province this is not the size of fish or catch the days men meet to earn a living. it's a meager return for a day on the watch. the shuttle out of here suffers from increasing pollution with industrial waste domestic sewage and agricultural fertilizers after finding their way into its waters no surprise then that fish stocks are diminishing.

the salty tide from the arabian gulf has also advanced north up the shuttle ata resulting in an act of fresh water and. some fisherman have also resorted to damaging ways of catching fish including using poison to bring them to the surface to leak syria or jordan. any minute join us and with. jani i had an oil. as i sent you and i. know it there was. a and a.

nine iron man. john. and that's it all with. the animals and what are they and as ishi i said now in majority my list up as southey a j e the bash up the month off and i've got a monkey and i tell you there's been much and i shop where i know i live off our money no job us no one god didn't and had a man that that i didn't why when i didn't much already i would and i could outta shut the a room or hide them i died out i didn't murder my child. who

done it that i'd have a fight. but. i had the good you know i love die if you will but i will be a test. in the series what it means what it is i just really just hate to be locked into the chicken yard he said and said i said i was then exactly when i said i got the big idea when you look at he doesn't have a play i don't want to how do i not do with another because of the i have said this a lot and will you go. well luckily not just because but. when i see justice and. know what i am i not to mind a shop. and not at will with that at the shop just to.