Iraq's Marsh Arabs have coexisted with the wetlands' unique ecosystem for 6,000 years. Photo: Dr. Michael Izady, Ph.D. (flickr)

Southern Iraq is home to one of the largest wetlands in the world, where the tributaries of the Tigris and Euphrates meet. But a three-year drought in the Middle East, along with dams and water projects in neighboring countries, has left southern Iraq with a serious water shortage, reports the BBC.

For 6,000 years these wetlands have been home to people called Marsh Arabs. They made their huts out of the marsh reeds, ate fish they caught in the waters, and sold the milk and cheese they made from water buffalo milk, explains the LA Times. (A beautiful slide show of Iraq's marshlands and the Marsh Arabs accompanies the The LA Times article.) But now these wetlands are roughly 30 percent of their former size, says the BBC, and they are continuing to shrink.

The marsh's dropping water levels have devastated the wealth of the region and the livelihoods of the Marsh Arabs. Jassim Asadi, of the nonprofit conservation group Nature Iraq, tells the LA Times the marshes used to supply two-thirds of the fish consumed in Iraq. Now people buy bottled water and frozen fish imported from Iran. “It is an economic disaster,” Asadi says.

Though the drought is "the most immediate cause" threatening the wetlands and their inhabitants, regional water politics cannot be ignored, the BBC says. The Tigris and Euphrates flow through multiple countries, and the rivers are the main water source in the area. A BBC video helps break down the situation:

About 70 percent of Iraq's waters originates outside the country, in Turkey, Syria, and Iran... These countries already have ambitious damn and irrigation projects, limiting how much is left for Iraq. And yet more damns are planned — further reducing the flow into the marshes.

Some scholars and politicians remain hopeful that diplomacy and cooperation amongst the different Middle Eastern countries will allow for more equitable water management. But as things stand now, there is no immediate fix on the horizon.

Urban overcrowding, like that seen here in Kampala, has lead many Ugandans to build on top of ecologically important wetlands. Photo: kloppster (flickr)

They arrive during the night with their construction tools. Some come with hired security guards. These are the wetland encroachers of Kampala, hoping to claim land before the watchful eye of the National Environmental Management Authority notices and evicts them.

Poverty is compelling many people to build on the wetlands as population growth and urbanization increase land competition. The construction destroys the land's ecological value, Uganda's The Monitor reports.

Uganda's wetlands filter water and prevent destructive flooding downstream. They are also a source of material for profitable products like papyrus. Wetlands provide employment for 2.7 million Ugandans in a country where just five percent of the total work force has a consistent income.

Uganda was the first African country to develop a national wetlands program. The government has spent millions of dollars and partnered with the World Resources Institute (WRI) to develop an information system to track wetland use. Also, Ugandans who build on wetlands without permits are subject to fines and evictions.

The WRI and the Ugandan government are concerned that the services and products wetlands provide, and on which many poor households depend, are at risk. But, despite Uganda's pioneering status in wetlands management, the country faces many trade-offs as it balances land needs with the desire to preserve the ecosystem and alleviate poverty.