Co-management Scheme to Protect the Southern Marshes of Iraq: A Proposal

Abstract

The development of co-management schemes for several protected areas in many parts of the world has gone through several steps of legislations and law establishment until this practice has settled down in its present form that we can see in many South Asian countries. In the introduction of this chapter, basic ideas about the context of the co-management were given, and in the following sections, a short history of the development of the co-management practice in South Asian countries was allocated. The South Asian countries were chosen as an example of implementing the co-management because these countries have struggled in establishing such well-designed program that suits both locals of any protected areas and the government. In the later section, the protected area was discussed and the concentration was given for the southern marshes of Iraq as a possible candidate for implementing the co-management practice. In the last section, the experiences of the South Asian countries that implemented the co-management practice were reviewed shortly, and the possibility of applying such practice in Iraq and on the southern marshes was discussed. The aim of this chapter was to make available for the policymakers in Iraq a program that both the locals of the southern marshes of Iraq and the government can share in order to manage and protect the marsh areas.