Plans to drill for oil in the protected Mesopotamian Marshes of southern Iraq have galvanised villagers and activists determined to save the mythical wetlands already battered by years of drought.

"We will never accept it," marshes activist Murtada al-Janubi told a meeting, seeking to reassure anxious residents gathered in a traditional hall made of woven reeds from the wetlands, to discuss the government's plans for the UNESCO-listed area that is their home.

Everyone nodded in approval.

If they fail to save the Huwaizah Marshes, "a historical era... with its heritage and southern identity will vanish for ever", Janubi, 33, told AFP during a tour of the wetlands that straddle the Iraq-Iran border.

The millennia-old history of the marshes -- the reputed home of the biblical Garden of Eden -- "would end with this oilfield", said the moustached, tanned activist.

In 2023, as China became a major player across various sectors in Iraq, the oil-rich country awarded a Chinese firm the rights to explore the Huwaizah field.

Several residents of Abu Khsaf, the village in Missan province where the meeting with activist Janubi was held, said that at the time they did not fully grasp the implications.

Only this year, when heavy machinery was brought in to conduct seismic studies and open a new road, did the residents say they recognised a "threat" to the swamplands that have sustained their traditional way of life.

The government says that the oil and environment ministries are........

© Al Monitor