Ecosystems, farming & migration

3: Human impact on ecosystems

Required Resources

• Slides 7-11
• Video: News report on draining of marshes

Delivery

• Show the class Slides 7 and 8. Slide 7 is a satellite image of the Iraqi wetlands in the 1970's, before Saddam Hussein began draining them, and Slide 8 shows the wetlands in 1997, when over 90% of the wetlands had disappeared.
  • Ask the class to identify the major differences between the two images. If you have an interactive whiteboard at your disposal, you may like to put an overlay on the image and to then annotate the differences.
  • Ask the class what they think has happened here.
• The video is a report on some of the work carried out by the British Army, assisting in the rehabilitation of the Marsh Arabs after the toppling of Hussein. Use the footage and Slides 7 -11 to explain to students that the Iraqi marshes were drained by Saddam Hussein, but that he was overthrown and that life is now returning to the marshes.