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.
ABSTRACT
The study aims to identify the level of health services provided in private suites to government hospitals from the perspective of the recipi
... Show MoreThe aim of the research is to demonstrate the concept, characteristics, efficiency and adequacy of infrastructure in Khor Al-Zubair, as it represents an important benchmark for judging the development of the city. The researchers thus aim to measure the efficiency, adequacy and personal impression of each service in Khor Al-Zubair city and its residential neighborhoods. To meet this objective, the researchers used the descriptive and analytical approach that involves randomly distributing a questionnaire with specific questions to the neighbors of the city. The study has reached a set of results and recommendations that contribute to addressing the problems to the sector of infrastructure services in the city, such as: the per capita sha
... Show MoreThe Tigris River is one of the main rivers and an important resource for the population of Iraq. The present study aimed to quantify the concentration of surface-active substances in the Tigris River and to investigate the dynamics of this ecosystem. Five sampling sites were selected along the river within Baghdad city (Al-Muthanna Bridge, Al-Greaat Bridge, Al-Sarrafia Bridge, Al-Jadriyah Bridge, and Al-Za'franiya Area) for the period from July 2020 to April 2021. The study examined the relationship between the concentrations of surface-active materials (surfactants, including anionic and nonionic types) and their potential interaction with nutrients—nitrate (NO₃⁻), phosphate (PO₄), and sulfate (SO₄²⁻)—as well as the
... Show MoreThe lower Cretaceous sandstones of Zubair and Nahr Umr formations are the main producing reservoirs in Subba oilfield in southern Iraq. Key differences in their petrophysical and depositional attributes exist affecting their reservoir characteristics. The evaluation of well logs and core porosity-permeability data show better reservoir properties in Nahr Formation. The Litho-saturation logs indicate greater thickness of oil-saturated reservoir units for Nahr Unr Formation associated with lower values of shale volume, and higher values of effective porosity. In addition, higher values of permeability for Nahr Umr Formation is suggested by applying porosity-irreducible water saturation cross plot. The reducing reservoir quality of Zub
... Show MoreThe utilization of artificial intelligence techniques has garnered significant interest in recent research due to their pivotal role in enhancing the quality of educational offerings. This study investigated the impact of employing artificial intelligence techniques on improving the quality of educational services, as perceived by students enrolled in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Baghdad. The study sample comprised 379 male and female students. A descriptive-analytical approach was used, with a questionnaire as the primary tool for data collection. The findings indicated that the application of artificial intelligence methods was highly effective, and the educational services provided to students were of exceptional quality.
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This research aims to assess and measure the quality of health services provided by the Baghdad Educational Hospital using five dimensions of 5Qs , Developer model by (Zinelidin), 2006), the problem of the research is to try to determine the quality of health services provided at the hospital as well as the investigation of the existence of the elements of quality contribute to achieve the requirements of customers and their needs, and used for the purposes of this research two approaches, first used Applied Research to 5Qs dimension model and use the Checklist as a Key tool to collection and analysis of data and the second descriptive analytical me
... Show MoreResearch and Development Programs Effectiveness in the Central Library of Baghdad University