Iraqi officials end seminar with plan to save their marshlands

OSAKA -- A two-week seminar for Iraqi officials on preserving the rapidly disappearing marshlands in southern Iraq concluded Friday with plans to launch a pilot program that would introduce water and sanitation technologies to the area.

But some participants, while welcoming the idea of such a program, expressed concern that it would fail unless more basic infrastructure problems were resolved first.

Sponsored by the United Nations Environment Program's Division of Technology, Industry, and Economics, concurrent seminars in Shiga Prefecture and Osaka brought together nearly 60 water and sanitation specialists from Iraq to learn about international water management and technology standards.