Azzam alwash wiki

It is thought to be the original Garden of Eden.

A place so beautiful, teeming with water and life, that according to the Christian faith it was the birthplace of mankind.

That was until the 1980s, when Saddam Hussein drained these great wetlands of southern Iraq, destroying them, turning them to desert.

However, since his overthrow, a remarkable effort has begun to restore these Mesopotamian Marshes, among the most important wetland habitat in the world.

One man is leading the way, attempting to rejuvenate the marshes and bring back the diversity of animals and plants that once lived there.

A BBC film crew has followed his progress, revealing how he and his colleagues are succeeding in attracting rare birds back to a land ravaged by persecution and war.

In the 1990s Saddam Hussein