The Mesopotamian Marshlands (Al-Ahwar) have been inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List, where they wrote ''The inscription of the property known as ‘The Ahwar of Southern Iraq: Refuge of Biodiversity and the Relict Landscape of the Mesopotamian Cities' is an international recognition of its outstanding universal value. With its cultural and natural features, the Marshlands played a major role in the development of the earliest urban centers and in the emergence of complex societies in southern Mesopotamia, dubbed as the Cradle of Civilization. The mixed serial property includes four natural and three cultural components, namely the Huwaizah, East and West Hammar and Central Marshes, together with the archaeological sites of Ur, Uruk and Eridu.''

Iraq is full of despair, yet filled with potential, hope and wonders. 

Al Ahwar, 1980s