Maysan

- Environmental obsession led him from a young age to discover the environmental components surrounding his home, and he grew under the guidance of his father, who knew the British traveler Cavin Younk, author of "Return to the Marshes" to dedicate his life to defending the largest bodies of water in southern Iraq.

Environmental expert and blogger Ahmed Salih Neama spent his life traveling among the marshes of Maysan Governorate (380 km southeast of Baghdad), carrying his pen and camera to defend its biodiversity, and a blogger witness to him on Arab and international media sites.

"I grew up in the midst of dense farms and saw biodiversity in a large way, which was the real starting point for the love of the environment and its components, and my father's library was my treasure of knowledge, in which I read the books of the British traveler Wilfred Thesiger (A Reed in the Wind) and (Arabs of the Marsh), and (National Geographic) magazine was reaching us by mail because My father is involved in it."

Neama is keen to protect the biodiversity of the marshes (Al-Jazeera)

Campaigns to protect the marshes

Nima has organized several campaigns to defend the neighborhoods that live in the marshes, including his campaign to defend the rare indigenous Iraqi otter “The Otter” named “Maxwell” after its discoverer, the Scottish scientist Gavin Maxwell, in the fifties of the last century in the Maysan Marshes, after it was exterminated due to drought or hunting operations. Unfair and sold for the high price of its fur.

He tells Al Jazeera Net that the campaign to defend the otter (Maxwell) contributed greatly to the joining of the marshes to the World Heritage List, by defending its components, "and this campaign was adopted among the vocabulary included in the list in 2016".

And he organized several campaigns to defend aquatic life, including his campaign against the death of fish and others against overfishing, and led others to purify and clean the waters of the marshes, and launched another to re-cultivate aquatic plants in those bodies.

Nehme accompanied many international figures to the marshes, to inform them of his enchanting world. "I accompanied many international figures to visit the marshes, including the British Baroness Emma Nicholson, the British journalist Emily and her husband Leon, the Japanese writer Takano Yamada, and other official figures, including the German consul and many orientalists and international organizations."

He participated in many local and international environmental organizations, and met with many environmental activists from different countries of the world, and his main concern was to defend the marshes, and he worked with many of them for free, and his goal was to communicate and show the suffering of the marshes, until he had to leave his work for 4 years to devote himself to the marshes.

Khairallah: Nima is one of the few and is motivated by an innate motive to protect the environment (Al-Jazeera)

Automatic drive to protect the environment

Activist and environmental expert Salman Khairallah, a member of the administrative board of the Association of Protectors of the Tigris specialized in protecting the environment in the capital, Baghdad, says that Nima is one of the few in the Middle East driven by the innate obsession with protecting the environment in its various forms, and offers distinct alternatives as an activist and researcher, and experience and activity suffice that Be a pioneer in the field of environmental defense.

And Khairallah - in his speech to Al Jazeera Net - considered that Naama constitutes a front for Iraq, as he has reported dozens of international studies and research on Iraqi rivers and marshes.

He adds that experts and international stakeholders acknowledge that Nima is a qualitative front for Iraqi environmental activity, despite its exposure to threats and pressures, but it remains enriched with information.

Neama organized visits for artists to get ideas from the marshes and embody them in artistic works, such as painting, music and sculpture. Among the artists who visited the marshes was the famous oud player Naseer Shamma, who, upon his visit to the marshes, composed a piece of music about it.

He did not hesitate to bring up the suffering of the marshes in the forums he attended, and through satellite channels. Nima was a distinguished Marsh voice that carried a great determination to activate and internationalize the issue significantly.

He actively contributed to the preparation and training of the marsh dwellers as tourist guides, which provided new job opportunities for them. He also supervised the encouragement and preparation of dozens of environmental activists in the governorate.

Nima broadcast hundreds of videos from the depth of his city through the communication sites, and the “Maysan City of Love and Beauty” hashtag was his most famous video. ".

He also took care of the folklore (mythology), especially folklore and oral tradition, in addition to the ancient Marsh dialects, and he wrote down their vocabulary for fear of genealogy, and he was interested in following up on the industries of the marshes.

Nima in one of the forums talks about the beauty and nature of the marshes (Al-Jazeera)

Godfather of the Marshes

Writer Nawal Juweed, who specializes in folklore in the city of Basra - to Al Jazeera Net - says that Naama is considered a positive energy and the godfather of the marshes and its guide. And looking for solutions to avoid the water scarcity crisis and its impact on the marshlands.

He is facing the drought that his city's marshes are witnessing recently, and is leading campaigns and demonstrations for that component. He tells Al Jazeera Net, "The campaign to demand the release of water to revive the marshes resulted in mass demonstrations to increase water releases, and to demand a share of the marshes, as the drought is very big in them."

Naama considers the titles given to him such as the marsh guard, its prince, and the environment man, a source of pride for him and his family.