The earth can take care of itself. The Marsh Arabs, who had lived in the marshes of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers for several millenia until Saddam Hussein had them drained, simply breached the levies and the marsh healed itself very quickly.
And remember the dire warnings that his torching the oil wells would cause irreparable damage. Another falsehood from the scientific cognoscenti.
And he also slaughtered most of the Marsh Arabs. Have you seen the photos of the fantastic reed houses, main halls and other structures? Amazing work. I haven't heard if the once viable fishing industry has recovered, well, at least the fish, I don't think the "industry" exists anymore.