Details of the hydrological projects built by riparian countries are described later

The metrological data show that the average maximum and minimum temperatures are 30˚C and 19˚C respectively. June, July and August are the warmest months  while January, February and December are the coldest months . It should be mentioned, however, that about 10 days a year the temperature is equal or below 0˚C. As far as the humidity of the area is concerned, it is considered a humid area  where the humidity reaches its maximum in winter  and the minimum in summer  with a mean value of 40% – 45%. The total annual radiation reaches 525 milliwatt/hour where it reaches its maximum in June and July and its minimum in December and January. Eight to nine hours is the sunshine duration as an average during the day, this is equivalent to 69% – 74%. In summer sunshine duration reaches 80% – 90% while in winter it does not exceed 70%. The prevailing wind direction is northwesterly and westerly. During spring, a south-easterly wind present refereed to as “khansin”. This wind comes from Saudi Arabia and usually brings sand storms. Mean annual wind velocities are ranging from 3.6 to 5.7 m/sec with the highest mean monthly wind velocities taking place in the period June to August. Potential evapotranspiration  map  shows that the rate is higher in the south relative to the north. The average annual ETo is higher than 2000 mm. ETo reaches its maximum values from May to September and its minimum during January. During summer, 50% of ETo annual amount occurs while it is 22% – 23% during spring and autumn, and it reaches its minimum  during winter. The average annual day with fog is 27 days, and the maximum number of fog days occurs in December and January. As far as thunderstorms are concerned, its mean annual number of days is 7 usually occurring during the period October to May. The average annual dust days are of the range 36 – 53 days, and they usually occur from April to August with the peak in June and July. The western parts suffer more than other parts from the dust storms.The marshland is located in a very flat area. It rises gently toward the southwestern plateau with an elevation of 940 m and from the northeast toward Zagros Mountains, which reaches 3000 m. The area is featureless and very plain.

The widest portion is about 200 km while the narrowest portion is about 45 km near Basrah . There are some areas, which are below sea level. Within the area, the Tigris and Euphrates separate in many sub branches,grow table hydroponic which disappear in the large marshland that occupies 15,000 – 20,000 square kilometers depending on the availability of water. The main marches in the area are Hammar, Huwaeizah and Qurnah or Central marches .This marsh is located south of the Euphrates River and extends from Nasiriyah in the west to the outskirts of Basrah on Shatt Al-Arab in the east. Toward the south, saline lakes and sand dune belt of the Southern Desert border it. It occupies and area of 2800 square kilometers as a permanent lake before the 1970’s which is about 120 km long and 25 km wide. During the flood, it can extend to 4500 square kilometers. The maximum water depth in this marsh is within a range of 1.8 to 3 m. During summer; parts of the wet area dry along its shoreline and banks, and islands emerge. These islands are usually used for agricultural purposes. The main source of water is by flooding and tributaries of the Euphrates River. Another source is the overflowing from the Qurnah Marsh, also nourished the Al Hammar Marsh. Groundwater recharge was another source of replenishment.These marshes lie between the Tigris River to the east and the Euphrates River to the south; the area is roughly delimited by a triangle between Nasiriyah, Qalat Saleh and Qurnah. During seventies of last century, the Qurnah Marshes covered an area of about 3000 square kilometers bounded by the Tigris River east and the Euphrates River from the south. These marshes receive water from Tigris’s distributaries, namely the Shatt al-Muminah and Majar al-Kabir south of Amarah. The water depth in some areas reaches 3 m. The area consists of reed beds and several permanent lakes including, Umm al Binni Lake. The Al-Zikri and Hawr Umm Al-Binni lakes are two of the notable lakes and are 3 m deep.This marsh area is partly located to the east of the Tigris River and some parts in Iran, which is referred to as Hawr Al-Azim. The source of water is by the Karkheh River from Iran, while from Iraq, the Tigris distributaries Al-Musharrah and Al-Kahla supply the marsh. This marsh covers an area of about 3000 square kilometers, and it is 80 km wide at the north and 30 km from the south. The southern part is usually seasonal while the central and northern parts are permanent having 6 m depth of water in some parts. This marsh is characterized by moderately dense vegetation that can be found in the permanent areas. Hydraulic structure built during the 20th century; construction of major hydraulic works played an essential role in controlling the floods. Al-Hindiya Barrage was inaugurated in 1913 on the Euphrates River while Al-Kut Barrage was constructed in 1938, which directed more water flow towards the Gharraf River to supply irrigation for field agriculture, thereby decreasing the amount of water flowing from the Tigris into the Qurnah  and Huweizah marshes.

All these factors reduced the flow of the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. Furthermore, many oil fields were discovered within the area that meant drying 1000 square kilometers of the marshes.After the 1990s, the Iraqi Government started to drain the marshes for military and security reasons and 63% of the marshes disappeared in 1992 compared to 1985. To enable the army to move inside the marshes, the central government started to execute five major drainage projects to prevent water from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers from reaching the marches that were constructed to drain the marshes are discussed in details by. Later, the army launched a major attack against marsh dwellers using artillery, mortar and ground attacks. Two third of the marshes were not receiving water inputs in 1993 and in 2000 less than 10% remained. The population of marsh’s dwellers before 1990 was about 500,000 and due to the military activities’ 120,000 marsh dwellers left to Iran. Later, in 1997, 192,000 marsh dwellers were still living southern Iraq, and 200,000 remained in all Iraq. Some local dwellers turned to farming to survive. This caused a number of negative environmental implications. One of the implications is poor water quality. It should be mentioned, however, that the area was highly contaminated by army munitions and poison gas. Later, after 2003, people living near the marshes started to break down the diversions’ structures to let water entering the marsh lands. The Iraqi Government and the International community started to restore the marshes. Vegetation and wetland increased by 58% and the marshland was covering an area of 44,950 square kilometers in 2008. Then, the area was reduced to 3420 square kilometers in April 2009 and to 2313 square kilometers in July 2009. The area increase and decrease variations are due to water availability and shortages. For this reason, this phenomenon continued with time .The volume of water required to restore 75% of the marshes is about 13 BCM. To find out this; we have to look at the whole water availability in Iraq. Water resources in Iraq mainly depend on the volume of water of the Tigris and Euphrates and their tributaries that enter in Iraq from other riparian countries.The two rivers rise in Turkey while some of the tributaries of the Tigris rise in Iran. Any activity within Turkey and Iran affects the quantity and quality of the water entering Iraq. Long-term average quantity of water entering Iraq from main Tigris and its tributaries are about 21.2 and 24.78 BCM while the Euphrates long average annual flow that is received by Iraq is about 30 BCM. Since the 1970s, the flow of the two rivers and their tributaries started to decrease. The flow of the Tigris River and its tributaries at Baghdad was 1207 cumecs for the period 1931-1960 and it dropped to 927 and 522 cumecs for the periods 1961-2000 and after the year 2000 respectively. The average annual flow of the Euphrates started to decrease from 30 BCM to about 4.4 BCM. This decrease of the flow of the rivers is due to the projects executed in Turkey, Iran and Syria and climate change.Turkey, Iran and Syria started to build dams in the upper parts of the catchment .

Turkey started to execute what is known as the GAP project. This project involves 22 dams and 19 power generation plants. Iran blocked the Karoon River which supplies about 50% of the flow of Shat Al-Arab River. In addition, other dams were constructed and all the valleys entering Iraq from Iran were diverted. Syria constructed 4 dams  only, and this is due to the security situation in that country. All these projects caused a decrease in the flow of the rivers and decrease in the water quality of the river too. Furthermore, climate change also affected the flow of the two rivers. All research carried out concerning the Middle East indicates that this area is suffering more than other areas in the world due to climate change, and this caused decrease of precipitation and increase of the temperature. Prediction models indicate that there will be 15% – 25% reduction in precipitation, and that will cause a reduction of surface water flow about 29% to 73%. This situation will cause grave depletion of groundwater resources. Water scarcity will affect agriculture, municipal water supply, sanitation industry and life quality. It is expected that Iraq will suffer from water shortages where it will reach −20.6 BCM in 2040.In addition, in case the situation remains as it is, all future predictions suggest that all riparian countries will be under water shortage stress. Bilateral talks and/or agreements are not sufficient to begin discussions for a regional solution. Therefore, such negotiations and discussions require a third party to intervene to bring all riparian countries together. To reach a final solution and sign an agreement between riparian countries this requires an external mediator that can highlight and frame the issues in such a way that each country believes that it is gaining by joining the discussion and will lose something by avoiding the discussions. The third party  should be influential on the international political level,grow table has the capability of financial support and has high technical skills that can be used. In such a case, all parties will be seriously involved in the discussions. Furthermore, it is believed that such negotiations between Iraq and others should include commercial, agricultural, industrial, military and security, trade and water. This is because Turkey is the dominant regional power and will not take the discussion seriously unless there are incentives. In this context, it is believed that if this plan is put into practice, the water can be made available to restore the marshes.Old age is a common phenomenon across the world and over time. It includes the proportion of older population aged sixty years and above. It is an emerging issue in Bangladesh. With the improvement in health care and increased life expectancy it is becoming a vital problem in Bangladesh. Over the last one decade, in Bangladesh the proportion of older population has been significantly increased. In Bangladesh, population ageing is viewed as a natural outcome of demographic transition from high fertility and mortality to low fertility and mortality due to the years of successful family planning  and public health programs that have changed the population growth of the country. The developed countries evolved policy instruments in the form of social security as well as care for the older people through institutions like old age homes, geriatric hospitals, old age recreation center and many other public and private care systems for the aged but in Bangladesh these facilities are not sufficient for older people specially for the tea garden older people. Bangladesh, as a developing country, has a long cultural tradition of looking after the older and families and communities are expected to take care of their own older members.