Ecosystems provide humans with services that include benefits from food, fresh water, climate regulation, and socio-economic assets. The Mesopotamian marshlands are among the largest wetlands in the Middle East and they provide various benefits. However, ecosystem services of the Marshlands are consistently undervalued in national economic analysis and decision making. This study focusses on the Central Marshes, the first National Park in Iraq, and is the first attempt at valuing a series of ecosystem services from a valuable natural ecosystem in Iraq. We adopted the Toolkit for Ecosystem Services Site-Based Assessment (TESSA) for the determination of biophysical and economic values of services at the site level. Data on key ecosystem services (as determined by 30 interviews with residents of the Marshes) included the trading of fish, harvested plants, water buffalo milk, and fodder were collected across six months in 2014. We valued the ecosystem services within the CM (40,000 ha) over a 6-month period to have a total value of 860,078.23 USD. This estimated total value was the sum of 86,637.25 USD from harvested plants, 551,334.80 USD from trading fish, 167, 303.70 USD from trading water buffalo milk, and 54,804.00 USD from trading fodder. The average income per individual in Iraq in 2014 was 6720 USD (World Bank data - https://data.worldbank.org/country/iraq): thus, the CM provided an average salary for 256 people. Our results provided greater understanding of the ecosystem services contributed by the Central Marshes and has highlighted the crucial role of nature in supporting sustainable well-being for humans living in the area. In addition, the results can be used to enhance local policy, to aid management plans of the National park, and to estimate lost and damage that could result from impact of climate change on the area.
Iraq enjoys many factors and ingredients that made it “affect and be affected at the same time” by the American-Iranian conflict from the “strategic geographical position” adjacent to Iran as an important point and that Iraq has been part of this conflict since the last period which witnessed the outbreak of the first Gulf War (1980-1988) because of border problems and a dispute over Shatt al-Arab, and what followed after that, specifically from 2003 when the United States of America and its allies occupied Iraq’s lands and made a political change by the destruction of its security and military institutions. It increased the importance of Iraq in being a subject of competition between the competing parties in exploiting the
... Show MoreIraq is considered one of the countries most susceptible to the negative impacts of climate change. According to international reports, it is classified as among the top five most affected by climate change in the world, leading to economic resource shortages and an increase in water scarcity, which exposes societal stability in Iraq to a threat. This may result in social disintegration and civil conflicts, so climate changes are considered one of the most dangerous crises affecting societal stability in Iraq during this stage. In this context, the research attempts to trace the causes of climate change and their effects on societal stability in Iraq and suggest some necessary measures to confront them in the future. The resea
... Show MoreThe research work was conducted to investigate the effect of oral administration of water extract of black pepper at doses of (1, 5) mg/kg body weight for two weeks daily by determining the genotoxic effect (mitotic index), evaluation of immunological effect (IgG, IgM, IgA, C3, C4) and measuring fertility hormones (follicles stimulation hormone/FSH, lutenising hormone/LH) levels with histopathological examinations of female albino swiss mice ovaries in comparison with control (normal saline). A clear effect in increasing mitotic activity was reveled for both doses in comparison with control. Results also showed a significant increase in the value of the all immunological parameters at both doses in comparison with control. Also obvious rais
... Show MoreWater scarcity, rising energy costs, and declining irrigation efficiency are significant barriers to wheat production in Iraq. This study evaluates the economic, environmental, and sustainability impacts of integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into irrigation management under semiarid conditions. Field experiments conducted at the Al‐Ra'id Research Station in Baghdad during the 2025 season compared conventional diesel‐based irrigation with AI‐assisted irrigation that used soil moisture sensors, Internet of Things (IoT) controllers, and predictive weather algorithms. The analysis employed Cobb–Douglas production modeling, cost–benefit analysis, net
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a flu-like infection caused by a novel virus known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). After the widespread around the world, it was announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a global pandemic. The symptoms of COVID-19 may arise within 2 weeks and the severity ranged from mild with signs of respiratory infection to severe cases of organ failure and even death. Management of COVID-19 patients includes supportive treatment and pharmacological medications expected to be effective with no definitive cure of the disease. The aims of this study are highlighting the management protocol and supportive therapy especially vitamin D and manifesting the clinical symptoms b
... Show MoreThe investment government expenditure is considered the fundamental of enhancing the economic activity as it has become a mean for achieving capital accumulation in all economic sectors, The Iraqi economy is characterized of being yield unilateral depending petroleum revenues as an essential resource of financing government expenditure , as the contribution of petroleum sector in GDP is large in proportions to other economic sectors contribution.
The relationship between investing government expenditure, and non-oil GDP is about to be not existent during the
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