Ecosystems provide humans with services that include benefits from food, fresh water, climate regulation, and socio-economic assets. The Mesopotamian marshlands are among the largest wetlands in the Middle East and they provide various benefits. However, ecosystem services of the Marshlands are consistently undervalued in national economic analysis and decision making. This study focusses on the Central Marshes, the first National Park in Iraq, and is the first attempt at valuing a series of ecosystem services from a valuable natural ecosystem in Iraq. We adopted the Toolkit for Ecosystem Services Site-Based Assessment (TESSA) for the determination of biophysical and economic values of services at the site level. Data on key ecosystem services (as determined by 30 interviews with residents of the Marshes) included the trading of fish, harvested plants, water buffalo milk, and fodder were collected across six months in 2014. We valued the ecosystem services within the CM (40,000 ha) over a 6-month period to have a total value of 860,078.23 USD. This estimated total value was the sum of 86,637.25 USD from harvested plants, 551,334.80 USD from trading fish, 167, 303.70 USD from trading water buffalo milk, and 54,804.00 USD from trading fodder. The average income per individual in Iraq in 2014 was 6720 USD (World Bank data - https://data.worldbank.org/country/iraq): thus, the CM provided an average salary for 256 people. Our results provided greater understanding of the ecosystem services contributed by the Central Marshes and has highlighted the crucial role of nature in supporting sustainable well-being for humans living in the area. In addition, the results can be used to enhance local policy, to aid management plans of the National park, and to estimate lost and damage that could result from impact of climate change on the area.
Background: ;Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic liver disease. Approximately 85% of patients acutely infected with HCV progress to chronic liver disease with persistence of HCV-RNA for more than 6 months Among patients with chronic HCV infection , 15-20% progress to end-stage liver disease main transmission methods of the virus is by : blood and blood products ; sharing needles and acupuncture .Objective: To evaluate Iraqi patients infected with chronic HCV, including their treatment, and factors that affect their response to treatment .Methods :This study was performed at Gastroenterology and Hepatology hospital in Baghdad from January 2011 to March 2012.The study enrolled 90 patients with HCV Antibody positive (Ab +ve)
... Show MoreThis study aims to evaluate the performance of the sewage treatment plant in Al- Diwaniya, one of cities in the southern part in Iraq. This evaluation could be used to facilitate effluent quality assessment or optimal process control of the plant. The influent reaching the plant is considered a medium to strong in strength with BOD5/COD ratio in the range 0.23 and 0.69 which can be considered an easily degradable sewage by the biological processes performed by the activated sludge unit. The quality of the effluent was found to be higher than the Iraqi standards for disposal to water bodies. The BOD5/COD ratios of the treated sewage varied over a wide range as low of 0.13 to 1.48 indicating operational problems in the plant. Regressio
... Show MoreThis paper evaluates the appropriateness of ‘Power Up 5’ in Sterling schools in Iraq from the aspects of Design & Layout, Subject & Content, Activities and skills from the teachers’ perspectives. The study followed the quantitative approach where a questionnaire was adopted from a previous study which was made regarding the same objectives and research questions. Adapted from Litz (2005). The data were gathered by distributing the questionnaire to 55 English teachers in Sterling schools in Iraq through a 5 Likert scale questionnaire. The results of the analysis are generally in favour of the textbook regarding research questions and the appropriateness to Iraqi students in grade 5. The textbook can be adopted with ease in Iraqi public
... Show MoreThe aim of this study was to provide an overall assessment to the efficiency of the Iraq stocks exchanges (ISE) through specifying well –known models .First, Fama's efficient market hypothesis as a contrary concept to the random walk hypothesis, was performed and it has been found that ISE follows the random process, so the price of the shares can't be predicated on the basis of past information. Second,we use a multifactor model, which so named multiple regression, to explore the link between ISE and the main economic indicators. our empirical analysis finds that every weak associations exists between major ISE measures and main economic indicators.
Transportation network could be considered as a function of the developmental level of the Iraq, that it is representing the sensitive nerve of the economic activity and the corner stone for the implementation of development plans and developing the spatial structure.
The main theme of this search is to show the characteristics of the regional transportation network in Iraq and to determine the most important effective spatial characteristics and the dimension of that effect negatively or positively. Further this search tries to draw an imagination for the connection between network as a spatial phenomenon and the surrounded natural and human variables within the spatial structure. This search aiming also to determine the nat
The manufacturing industry in Iraq has faced, during the time stages, several obstacles that have had devastating effects on the Iraqi economy. These obstacles are represented by political events and wars that have led to the depletion of most human and material resources and the suspension of most vital industrial facilities from working, And the occurrence of this major deviation in the process of economic development, For the same reasons, the contributions of the manufacturing sector to the gross domestic product varied fluctuatingly, indicating instability in the growth rates of this sector, On the other hand, the supremacy of the belief that the dominance of oil resources as a main source for creating economic growth and achieving a h
... Show MoreThe Role of Japan in the Reconstruction of Iraq
Bigheaded carps (bighead carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, and silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) and their hybrids play an important ecological and economic role in their original habitat, while their introduced stocks may pose serious ecological risks. To address questions about the persistence and invasiveness of these fish, we need to better understand their population structures. The genetic structures of bigheaded carp populations inhabiting Lake Balaton and the Tisza River were examined with ten microsatellite markers and a mitochondrial DNA marker (COI). The Lake Balaton stock showed higher genetic diversity compared with the Tisza River stock. Based on hierarchical clustering, the Tisza population was characterized o
... Show MoreThis study investigated the detection and mineralization of organic pollutants in the Mesopotamian marshes.
Over the course of seven days of treatment, a batch bioreactor system and natural microbial communities from marsh sediments were able to break down contaminants in a remarkable way.
Water samples collected from five distinct marsh locations revea
The aim of this investigation is to study and analysis the role of governance in the evaluation of the and social performance of the economic units to be addressed through the concept of corporate governance and then to the social performance and its relationship to corporate governance.
The most important obtained results from this research is that the corporate governance of extreme importance, and derive their importance from being an essential tool to contribute to the transparency and fair disclosure of the financial results of economic units in the fight against financial and administrative corruption in economic units, thus providing protection and confidence of all parties, and the evaluating soci
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