Environment News Service: Drained by development and nearly destroyed under Saddam Husseins regime, the Central Marshes of Iraq have now been declared the countrys first national park. The Iraqi Council of Ministers approved the designation on July 23. The efforts to declare this unique landscape a park and protected area began in 2006 through a joint effort by Iraqs Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Environment, and Ministry of Municipalities with support from Nature Iraq, an Iraqi environmental conservation organization,...