"They're having all these problems with poor water, and they're surrounded by the answer," he said. That's because, with the proper knowledge, Iraqi scientists and engineers could build special "constructed wetlands" within marsh areas, he added. By so engineering nature there, the filtering properties of natural vegetation could be harnessed to clean some of the polluted water.
First, however, Iraqis will have to overcome the aftermath of war and 30 years of neglect that has decimated the country's research infrastructure, Richardson said. He and his colleagues witnessed the destruction firsthand at the University of Basra's marine science center, where looters had stripped many classrooms of their contents as well as smashed vital scientific equipment.
Richardson quickly learned that Iraqis also lack needed training "They have excellent marine biologists and zoologists who are very competent in what they're doing," he said. "But they had been completely out of the field of environmental science, which took off in the '70s. They are not trained in wetlands ecology and management. They've completely missed that. They have lost a generation of researchers.
"We're developing a program with the USAID where we would help restore some of the marshes through some pilot projects," he said. "We know, for example, that we would use the Haweizeh Marshes as a seed source.
"If this goes through and is approved, we're also going to work with some of the universities there to bring some Iraqi scientists to Duke for some environmental and wetland training," he added. "Then we're going to do some training in Iraq."
In the end, Richardson predicted that Iraqis "will not be able to restore
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Contact: Scottee Cantrell
scottee@duke.edu
919-613-8074
Duke University
18-Aug-2003