SAVE KENYA'S LAKE TURKANA.

Lake Turkana, one of the largest salt lakes in the world, along with the lower Omo river valley, are about to be devastated by a project of 3 mega-dams on the Omo river in  Ethiopia called the Gibe 3 dam project. Additional mega-dams projects Gibe 4 and 5 are now in the planning stage.

http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/africa/gibe-3-dam-ethiopia

The Omo River flows south out of the highlands of Ethiopia and then into the giant salt water lake Turkana, in Kenya, which is home to 300,000 people as well as diverse fish and wildlife species.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Turkana

The Omo River dams which will block fresh river water flows to Lake Turkana will deplete water levels to such an extent that most of the wildlife, fish etc. which live in Lake Turkana as well as the 300,000 indigenous people who live and fish on Lake Turkana will no longer be able to survive. The dropping water levels that will be caused by the dams may drop the water levels up to 30 feet by some estimates. This drop in water levels will concentrate Lake Turkana's waters making them excessively saline (salty) which will kill Lake Turkana's fish and other aquatic life as well as hippos, crocodiles, the Giant Nile Perch and various other species that live in and around Lake Turkana and depend on it's fish and aquatic life for survival.

There are 300,000 people that live on Lake Turkana and depend on Lake Turkana's fish for food. Their ancient way of life on one of the largest and oldest lakes in the world will be destroyed by these dams. Other great lakes around Africa are now being damaged or have been damaged in a similiar fashion by dam building on the rivers that feed their great lakes.

http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/africa/nile-basin/dams-draining-africas-lake-victoria

http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/1056

People in modern and ancient form have lived on and around lake Turkana for millions of years. Ancient hominid evidence of this has been found around Lake Turkana and in the Omo river valley, which feeds lake Turkana, by Louis Leakey, Richard Leakey and others. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkana_Boy

Hundreds of thousands of others who live in the Omo river valley basin north of Lake Turkana who follow flood cycle farming, on the lower Omo, will also be driven from their way of life when these three mega-dams stop the regular cycle of flooding which brings fertile soil sediments to the Omo river valley from the mountains upstream etc.These flood sediments are what makes farming and grazing possible in the lower Omo river valley.

http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/omovalley

Ethiopia is also building or planning seperate mega-dam projects on the Blue Nile River, which flows north out of the Ethiopian Highlands, draining into the greater Nile River which eventually drains into the Nile River Delta and out into the Mediteranean Sea. The Nile River Delta that was once one of the largest most fertile river deltas on earth has now been almost completely destroyed, along with it's spectacular fisheries by the enormous Aswan Dam built in the 1970's in the middle portion of Nile River which greatly reduced water flows to the delta and stagnated the river. The Aswan Dam has also brought large increases of malaria and other deadly water born parasites and diseases to the river valley dwelling people of Egypt. (in Egypt almost all the people dwell in the Nile River valley.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswan_Dam

http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/africa/nile-basin

At least two other great lakes/seas on earth have already been destroyed by damming and diversion of river water for farming/electricity. The Aral Sea in Kazahkastan (formerly the Soviet Union) and Lake Chad in sub-sahran Africa. Both of these enormous lakes and their fisheries/wildlife have been completely annihilated by damming and water diversions for irrigation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea

http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20010227lakechad.html

These dams and irrigation water diversion projects in sub-Saharan Africa and the former Soviet Union that  have dried up these two great inland bodies of water,  like most dam and water diversion projects around the world, have failed to irrigate as projected, turning the surrounding areas into vast wastelands, as well as wasting vast amounts of water through poor canal planning and evaporation. The fisheries in both of these seas/lakes have been destroyed because their waters have been made saline (salty) and bitter. The Aral Sea was once the most productive fishery in the former Soviet Union, providing fish for millions of people and employing 60,000 fisherman.

http://orexca.com/aral_sea.shtml

River water stagnated by dams, dam reservoirs and irrigation canals for diverting water are known to have seriously increase malaria and other water born parasites and diseases around the world., in some studies the increase in these stagnant water born diseases is 6 fold and higher

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/319/7211/663

500,000,000 people are sickened by malaria each year and 1,000,000-2,000,000 die. (90% of those killed are children.)

There is a suspicious rise in malaria worldwide, in tropical countries, that seems to parallel the building of mega-cities and mega-dams that divert and distort water drainage. This diversion of water drainage is known to create enormous amounts of stagnant water, which is prime breeding habitat for disease causing parasites and mosquitoes that spread malaria and other water born diseases.

Often the people affected by river damming do not even live in countries with dams but are adversely affected by upriver damming in other countries which stagnates their river stretches by reducing water flows etc.

People living around dam reservoirs and dam stagnated rivers around the world have much higher rates of stagnant water diseases like malaria and various water born parasites/diseases.

The world's river/coastal fisheries have been destroyed by the thousands of large dams and mega-dams which now block river water flows and stagnate nearly NEARLY EVERY RIVER ON EARTH. Many rivers no longer reach the world's oceans and seas because of dams.

http://www.truthout.org/article/death-worlds-rivers

The nation of China is building or planning on building hundreds of these mega-dam projects in Africa, Southeast Asia and other countries around the world in the coming days, months and years to exploit the resources in these countries, often disregarding human rights and with little concern for the eco-system damage they are causing in these countries.

http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/china/chinas-global-role

These mega-dam projects will be some of the LARGEST DAMS EVER BUILT ON EARTH, destroying river/coastal fisheries, lakes, eco-systems, forests, farmlands, people and cause increases in malaria and other diseases.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37844

The blockage of fresh river water flows into coastal waters from dams changes coastal water temperatures and this negatively affects/kills ocean coastal life/fisheries, corals etc.

Also killing river/coastal fisheries includes factory chemical run-off, street pollution run-off, agricultural pollution and run-off from fertilizers. manure, pesticides and herbicides etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_zone_(ecology)

Recently three young students who were peacefully protesting dam building and mining in Ethiopia were kidnapped/killed? by Ethiopian government security forces there. See the below link:

http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/12346

http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/blog/terri-hathaway/ethiopia-river-defenders-kidnapped-while-mines-and-dams-advance

After researching these kidnappings send a short paragraph or letter to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, at the below link, informing them of these kidnappings, perhaps a few caring citizens or C.I.A. agents can save these young people's lives:

U.S. CIA E-MAIL CONTACT LINK:

https://www.cia.gov/cgi-bin/comment_form.cgi

You can also contact the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives concerning this issue at the following links:

Link to all U.S. state senators:     

http://www.theorator.com/senate.html

Link to all U.S. state reepresentatives:

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

Many wrongs have been committed around the world concerning the building of large dams and mega-dams, get involved and learn more to affect positive change in countries affected by these projects. Many people who are affected by these projects are relatively powerless to stop these projects because their freedoms are severely restricted by poverty, lack of democracy and the wealthy, who easily snuff out their voice with money, violence and connections to the powerful in government who are often corrupted by money or cowed into fear and fail to protect the human rights of their own citizens.

Please see the below links to learn more about these ecological catastrophies.....will we ever learn?

We the undersigned would like to voice protest over the Gibe 3 dam project and petition the Ethiopian government as well as various multinational dam engineering and Environmental Impact Assessment  firms (EIA's) to reconsider this project based on more accurate and honest assessments of the potential human and environmental damage projected by numerous scientists and non-profit groups who are not on the payroll of this project.

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6344

http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/3776

http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2119

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/496