China,India,Turkey plan to build 100's of dams.

Turkish dam building on the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers has significantly reduced water flows to the Iraqi people and Iraqi farmers and also severely degraded the habitat and ecosystems/wildlife of these river systems.

If projects such as the Illisu dam project are completed as well as 22 other dams projects planned by the Turkish government, water flows to Iraq could be reduced another 50% beyond current levels which are already significantly reduced destroying farmlands, cities and one of the world's largest marsh/wetlands systems located in southern Iraq.

To a lesser extent dam building in Syria and Iran has also significantly reduced water flows to Iraq.

Reduced water availability in Iraq because of these dams will most likely further strain Iraq's ability to achieve peace, create economic stability, build a stable democratic government and modernize their agricultural systems.

Modernization, development and investment in Iraq's vast and largely underdeveloped agricultural systems would greatly benefit the entire Middle East including Turkey, Iran and Syria.

Dam building in Turkey, Syria and Iran which causes reduced water flows downstream in Iraq sabotage all efforts to modernize and develop Iraq's agricultural and economic potential.

Iraq has historically been the bread basket of the Middle East because of it's fertile soil and vast amount of arable land which fell into ruin during the reign of Saddam Hussein and has yet to be restored.

The percentage of arable land to total land area in Iraq is high compared to many other countries in the Middle East.

Turkey, Syria and Iran would be better served to freeze all dam building and take that money and invest it in developing Iraq's agricultural systems.......the financial and diplomatic returns would be far greater than the hostility and destruction caused by further dam building.

Much of the need for dam building in many countries could be eliminated by the upgrading of old wasteful electrical transmission lines or  by building "smart" grids.

Increasing instability caused by reduced water flows to Iraq by Turkish, Syrian and Iranian dam building would eventually threaten infrastructure and resource investments in Iraq and create substantial hostility towards Turkey by the many countries of the world that are now investing in Iraq's oil, natural gas, infrastructure, agricultural systems and people.

Recent studies have shown dam building worldwide to be extremely destructive to not only river ecosystems but also to people who live on and make their livelihood on river systems around the world and are displaced...often without compensation....by dam construction and flooding.  

Recent studies have also shown that dam building/power generation is not a clean or green way to produce electricity since the reservoirs or flooded areas behind dams produce incredibly high levels of the global warming gas methane from rotting vegetation under the reservoir which was killed by the flooding created by the dam....also this dead vegetation can no longer remove another global warming gas (CO2) from the atmosphere.

Methane gas is a greenhouse gas which is 25 to 72 times as powerful as CO2 in creating global warming.

Many dams have been shown to produce  more global warming gases than multiple coal burning power plants producing equivalent amounts of electricity.....and coal is one of the dirtiest, most polluting fuels out there!!!

Dams/reservoirs are the largest human caused source of this global warming gas on earth. (115 million tons per year..... methane emissions from dams/reservoirs amounts to 4-5% of total global warming gases emitted worldwide).

The cost to build and maintain dams as well as the environmental/human costs has been shown to be much more expensive than many alternative energy solutions now available such as solar, wind, geothermal, natural gas etc.

Also the build up of silt behind dams inevitably renders many dams obsolete after a number of years unless extremely expensive maintenance is done regularly.

Disruption of river flows affect feeding and breeding cycles of fish and other wildlife that lives in or on the river and depend on sediments for nutrients.

Their is a frenzy of dam building going on worldwide right now with almost every river on earth dammed multiple times.

This dam building greatly affects temperature of water flowing to the worlds seas, oceans and lakes affecting ocean and lake life which has evolved for millions of years to live in a certain range of temperatures which is determined to a great extent by the cooling or warming (depending on the time of year and location of river) effect of the water of the worlds rivers which flow from the mountains/glaciers etc. into the sea but are now significantly altered as they flow into the sea from dams.....these dams reduce flow and hold water which restricts water flows below dams to almost nothing in some cases...this shallow water is much warmer than normal flow water and in some cases stagnant...in tropical countries this warm stagnant water as well as stagnant reservoir water is prime breeding ground for mosquitoes and increases malaria and other water born diseases and parasites.

Iraq now faces a water/irrigation crisis because of ongoing dam building by Turkey which is severly restricting the flow of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers which threatens peace, stability and the environment as well as worldwide investments in Iraqi resources, infrastructure and people.

China now has plans for an additional 100 dams on the Yangtze River already the site of the world's largest dam, the Three Gorges dam, which has displaced millions of people... many without compensation and has destroyed the ecosystem of the Yangtze river as well as not functioning properly.

Many suspect this will cause the extinction of the Yangtze River dolphin one of the most endagered animals on earth.

India also has plans for multiple dams on major river systems flowing out of the Himalayas mountains which will severly restrict and dry up water flows to Bangladesh destroying and disrupting the lives of many millions? of Bangladeshi's.....will India compensate Bangladesh/Bangladeshi people for this destruction ?

Ten ways dams damage rivers

1.  Dams reduce river levels
By diverting water for power, dams remove water needed for healthy in-stream ecosystems. Stretches below dams are often completely de-watered.

2.  Dams block rivers

Dams prevent the flow of plants and nutrients, impede the migration of fish and other wildlife, and block recreational use. Fish passage structures can enable a percentage of fish to pass around a dam, but multiple dams along a river make safe travel unlikely.

3.  Dams slow rivers

Many fish species, such as salmon, depend on steady flows to flush them downriver early in their life and guide them upstream years later to spawn. Stagnant reservoir pools disorient migrating fish and significantly increase the duration of their migration.

4.  Dams alter water temperatures

By slowing water flow, most dams increase water temperatures. Other dams decrease temperatures by releasing cooled water from the reservoir bottom. Fish and other species are sensitive to these temperature irregularities, which often destroy native populations.

5.  Dams alter timing of flows

By withholding and then releasing water to generate power for peak demand periods, dams cause downstream stretches to alternate between no water and powerful surges that erode soil and vegetation, and flood or strand wildlife. These irregular releases destroy natural seasonal flow variations that trigger natural growth and reproduction cycles in many species.

6.  Dams fluctuate reservoir levels

Peaking power operations can cause dramatic changes in reservoir water levels -- often up to 40 feet -- which degrade shorelines and disturb fisheries, waterfowl, and bottom-dwelling organisms.

7.  Dams decrease oxygen levels in reservoir waters

When oxygen-deprived water is released from behind the dam, it kills fish downstream.

8.  Dams hold back silt, debris, and nutrients

By slowing flows, dams allow silt to collect on river bottoms and bury fish spawning habitat. Silt trapped above dams accumulates heavy metals and other pollutants. Gravel, logs and other debris are also trapped by dams, eliminating their use downstream as food and habitat.

9.  Dam turbines hurt fish

Following currents downstream, fish can be injured or killed by turbines. When fish are trucked or barged around the dams, they experience increased stress and disease and decreased homing instincts.

10.  Dams increase predator risk

Warm, murky reservoirs often favor predators of naturally occurring species. In addition, passage through fish ladders or turbines injure or stun fish, making them easy prey for flying predators like gulls and herons.

"When I visit a dam, I often find a plaque honoring by name the engineer, government leader, contracting firm and the height, size, date, volume of water held or diverted, power generated, flood capacity measurements. And that's fine.

But I don't find a plaque with the names of any species hurt, the names of any people displaced, the cost to taxpayers, the price of maintenance or decommissioning, or why this option was chosen over, say, windmills, solar panels, natural gas, groundwater pumping, demand management or some decentralized tools."

- From a World Commission on Dams member    

For more info on this subject go to:  http://www.internationalrivers.org/
or go to:  

http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=countries&Area=iraq&ID=IA53709

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

We the undersigned would like to see  Turkey, Syria and Iran put a freeze on all further dam building in light of Iraq's agricultural crisis and find a workable solution to their nation's differences concerning water flows which includes using some of the Turkish, Iranian and Syrian dam building money to invest in restoring Iraq's agricultural systems with agreements to share profits etc. from these investments for the sake of peace.

We would also like to see India and China halt further dam building and reassess the damage to people and ecosystems caused by dams and consider clean alternative energy solutions such as wind, solar, geothermal, natural gas etc as alternatives to dam building.