The Fertile Crescent: Remembering What it Was with Sustainability Initiatives
By: Waverly Nohr/ Arab America contributing writer
There is no denying that as the years fly by, the climate is changing. In fact, it has been since the beginning of the Earth. Unfortunately, the human race is amplifying the greenhouse effect—and fast, I might add. What was once called the “Fertile Crescent” located in between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers has become barren and does not house life anymore. What you’ve heard of as “Mesopotamia” is the settlement that first used the land to farm and create a stationary life as opposed to a nomadic one. To be clear, the fertile crescent is said to have been used since the 9th milennium BCE. According to WorldHistory.org,“ The Fertile Crescent, often called the “Cradle of Civilization“, is the region in the Middle East which curves, like a quarter-moon shape, from the Persian Gulf, through modern-day southern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and northern Egypt.”
Civilization was indeed cradled here and there were new opportunities of knowledge and skill, like never before. However, the land that once provided lush agriculture to the Mesopotamians has changed unimaginably. You might ask, why? Along with development, water demand increased and diverted the water supply away from the crescent that once flowed seamlessly. According to Food Tank, “Today, news from the region features conflict, urbanization, food and nutrition insecurity, natural resource scarcity, and climate change—challenges that have made the region into the world’s largest importer of food.”
It’s a wake up call when humans can visually see what effects we have on this planet that we live on. We see the temperatures rising with more mild seasons, even the fires in Australia and the Western United States are products of mistreating our environment and using more than what is in our means.
But don’t lose hope, the desertification of fertile crescent has kickstarted sustainability in the Arab World. Read below to learn about three Middle Eastern initiatives that are working towards making agriculture less harmful for regions such as the Mesopotamian region.
1. “Food Heritage Foundation, Lebanon
Started through the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit of the American University of Beirut, The Food Heritage Foundation preserves Lebanon’s culinary traditions with projects featuring food tourism, community kitchens, farmers’ markets, traditional recipes, and livelihood initiatives for small, rural food producers—primarily women. The organization aims to protect the “collective memory and indigenous knowledge” of food and agriculture central to the Lebanese identity through rural-urban agricultural linkages.
2. The Iraqi Seed Project, Iraq
The Iraqi Seed Project uses multiple mediums to share the realities of modern agriculture in the Fertile Crescent—the home of domesticated agriculture. What started as a collection of local recipes soon turned into documentation of the impacts of war, conflict, and related foreign aid on local agriculture and farmers. In response, domestic production and farming livelihoods have sharply declined during the past 30 years. The Project highlights the voices of small farmers and the agricultural heritage of the region through film and educational resources.
3. SEKEM, Egypt
SEKEM produces organic and biodynamic products, marketing them locally and across the Arab region. With over 800 associated farms across the region, SEKEM works with partners including the Egyptian BioDynamic Association and the Centre for Organic Agriculture in Egypt. The revenue from its agro-businesses funds a number of other social and cultural development initiatives including educational facilities for children, vocational trainings, and a medical clinic. SEKEM was awarded the Right Livelihood “Alternative Nobel Prize” in 2003.”
In a world where everything can be ordered in just one tap on a cell phone, it’s important to remember that everything is not made in just a single tap. As OECD stated, “Agriculture can have significant impacts on the environment. While negative impacts are serious, and can include pollution and degradation of soil, water, and air, agriculture can also positively impact the environment, for instance by trapping greenhouse gases within crops and soils, or mitigating flood risks through the adoption of certain farming practices.” The fertile crescent is where civilization first self sustained and wouldn’t it be nice to see the life come to it once again? Think about it.
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