The activists defending the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and the Mesopotamian Marshes

The activists defending the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

Baghdad, Iraq. A group prepares the bus headed for the city of Nasiriyah © Arianna Pagani

The activists defending the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

They're between 17 and 29 years old and are all Iraqi. They come from Baghdad and Mosul, from Kurdistan and Basra, and are members of different civil society organisations. Their goal is to defend the Tigris, Euphrates and Mesopotamian Marshes © Arianna Pagani

The activists defending the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

Chibayish, southern Iraq. Chibayish and the surrounding Mesopotamian Marshes were once home to the Ma'dan people. This area extended over 20,000 square kilometres up to the 1990s, when Saddam Hussein decided to dry out these unique wetlands as a form of punishment for the Marsh Arabs, who had supported the revolt against him © Arianna Pagani

The activists defending the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

Among the activists are members of the Iraqi Social Forum and Sport Against Violence campaign. Archeologists, engineers, human rights lawyers and even publishers are among them © Arianna Pagani

The activists defending the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

A meeting takes place during the Marshes Festival, which brought together many activists from different parts of Iraq © Arianna Pagani

The activists defending the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

Marsh Arabs, whose way of life has revolved around the marshes for 5,000 years, live in floating homes made entirely out of reeds collected from the water and rely on fishing as well as buffalo farming for their livelihoods © Arianna Pagani

The activists defending the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

The organisation Humat Dijlah, together with the international network Save the Tigris, launched the hashtag Iraq without rivers in Arabic on social media © Arianna Pagani