Dr. Azzam Alwash emigrated to the United States from Iraq in 1978 with only $600 in his pocket, and while he managed to establish a comfortable life for his family, and had a prosperous engineering career in Los Angeles, he chose to move back to Iraq at the start of the 2003 U.S. led invasion to pursue his passion for environmentalism, and improve the quality of life for Iraqis. 

“The American dream, it doesn’t fulfill your soul, following your soul and passion does,” he said. Despite living in Iraq for over a decade now, he still identifies as an American, and says he’s grateful for the opportunities the United States gave him.

On Monday, Dr. Alwash was awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, the world’s largest award for grassroots environmentalism. It was presented to him, along with other recipients of the honor in San Fransico, California. 

Dr. Alwash is being credited for establishing the first national park in Iraq. He’s encouraging other Iraqi Americans to give back to the country as well. 

“There are so many Iraqi American doctors, if they just make a short visit to Iraq and volunteer to help people, do you know what a difference that can make?” 

Alwash.

He says people who are passionate about various issues ranging from poverty to women’s rights can visit Iraq and help people affected by the issues. 

There is also a demand for volunteers who’re willing to visit Iraq and teach children English. 

“Iraq is not going to rebuild itself,” he said. Dr. Alwash’s daughters live in California, and he visits them a few times a year. His work has left a tremendous mark. The Mesopotamian Marshlands in Southern Iraq were known as the original site of the Garden of Eden, the birthplace of civilization and something of an environmental miracle until the early 1990s, when Saddam Hussein, drained, poisoned and set fire to the area.

Alwash, 54, is bringing the marshlands back to life. He is the founder of Nature Iraq, an Iraq-based non-profit committed to restoring and protecting Iraq’s natural environment. 

Alwash has succeeded in restoring the marshes to 50 percent of their original size and the marshlands are slated to be established as Iraq’s first national park in April 2013. 

In addition to restoring the marshes, this month Alwash and Nature Iraq, in coordination with the Iraqi Ministry of Environment, are publishing the Key Biodiversity Areas Survey, an atlas of 300+ biodiversity sites throughout Iraq to be recognized as areas for preservation, and ultimately achieve national park status.

While the Mesopotamian Marshes are beginning to flourish again, the threat of drought looms large as an extensive chain of 23 dams along the Turkey-Syrian border reduces the flow of water to a mere trickle. One of Turkey’s largest dams on the Tigris River, the Ilisu Dam, scheduled for completion in 2014, is strongly opposed by Iraq and is the source of great strife in the already politically-charged region. Alwash and Nature Iraq have launched a Flotilla journey down the Tigris to call global attention to the threat of water-based conflicts and man-made environmental disasters in the land between Turkey, Syria and Iraq. Azzam recently spoke at the first-ever TEDX Baghdad.

Speaking to The Arab American News by phone Dr. Alwash touted the potential of Iraq’s future, despite the country’s more than eight year long war, that’s left it vunerable to terrorism, and created dangerous sectarian divides. “Iraq has water, land, oil and huge potential,” he said.

A lot of positive projects are taking place in Iraq that are often over shadowed by negative news coverage of the country.  “The environment of Iraq is on the verge of healing,” he said.  

While he admits some parts of Iraq are still dangerous, he says there are still a lot of safe areas. “There are some parts of Iraq that are even safer than Manhattan,” he said.