NAIROBI, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Two UN agencies on Friday unveiled a plan to list as a World Heritage Site an area known as the Fertile Crescent, and thought by some to be the location of the Biblical "Garden of Eden".

    The UN Environment Programme (UNEP), in cooperation with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said the initiative, to be supported by funding from the Italian government, aims to further the protection and conservation of a significant wetland of global cultural, natural and environmental importance.

    The Marshlands, spawning grounds for Gulf fisheries, were almost totally drained during the 1990s and early 21st century.

    Dams upstream on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers had also aggravated the decline. By 2002 the 9,000 square km of permanent wetlands had dwindled to just 760 square km.

    "I would like to thank the Governments of Japan and Italy for their support and congratulate the Iraqi people on these extraordinary achievements, "Achim Steiner, UN under-secretary general and UNEP executive director said in a statement.

    "The work in the Iraqi Marshlands may have been unique and challenging for a whole variety of reasons. But the lessons we have learnt go beyond Iraq's border. They provide a blue print for the restoration for many other damaged, degraded and economically-important wetland ecosystems across the world," he added.

    Steiner said he looked forward to working with the Iraqi government and cooperating with UNESCO on developing a comprehensive management plan en route to securing a World Heritage Site listing and thanked the government of Italy for its invaluable support.

    UNEP estimated then that these wetlands would be completely lost within three to five years unless urgent action was taken.

    The UNEP marshland management project, which commenced in 2004 with funding from the UN Iraq Trust Fund, the government of Japan, and the government of Italy, has been working with the Iraqi Environment Ministry and local communities to accelerate improvements.

    These include environmentally-friendly methods that are providing safe drinking water for up to 22,000 people, the planting of reed banks and beds as natural pollution and sewage filters and the introduction of renewable energies such as solar.

    According to statement, a Marshland Information Network has been established. Training in satellite and field monitoring and wetland restoration and management has also been part of the project which completed its final evaluation phase at the Kyoto meeting.

    During this meeting, the Iraqi Ministry of Environment also requested the UNEP to provide support for accession to multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) in order to take part in the international environmental challenges but also opportunities facing the planet.

    The MEAs range from the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer to the Convention of Migratory Species and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

    "I am very happy that we are now going to work towards making the Marshlands a National Park and a globally important World Heritage Site," said Narmin Othman, Iraqi environment minister.

    "Now we have 50 to 60 percent of marshlands back, we can look forward to further improvements and putting them on the map as Iraq's first mixed, natural and cultural World Heritage Site as befits an area of global significance," added Othman.