The construction of the Ilisu Dam on on the Tigris river is set to be completed by 2015. Once the dam is fully operational, it will have drowned vast parts of the Tigris Valley in Batman Province, eastern Turkey.
In addition to the destruction of nature and historical sites such as Hasankeyf, dating back to 1800 B.C., the predominantly Kurdish population is being relocated to the industrial city of Batman.

Farmers, fishermen and their families who, for generations, have lived with the river’s natural flow, are being forced to give up their homes and agricultural lifestyle to make way for Turkey’s need for electricity and irrigation.

Since the mid-1960s, state agricultural policy, with the help of international industry and NGO involvement, has made the modernisation of Punjab’s farming methods a top priority. Much praise has been awarded to those involved in the transformation- Punjab went from a self-sustaining and relatively ancient farming area, to becoming India’s breadbasket and is credited with helping to halt the famine that India was suffering, in various degrees, for the 20 years preceding. However,  the complex problems associated with the implementation of this policy have been ignored to such an extent, that water tables have sunk drastically, becoming salinized and polluted, whilst the region’s soil has been gravely depleted. Punjabis have been hit by the dual blows of pesticide pollution and the financial strains of mismanaged and often highly currupt lending systems, both which have led to a many-fold increase in terminal diseases and suicide rates.

Various stakeholders have profited enormously at the expense of the region- companies such as Monsanto have cashed in on the sale of GMO seeds and their associated pesticides and fertilisers whilst the makers of heavy machinery such as John Deere, have had whole new markets open up in short order.