Lakes dry up, fires rage through forests and floods kill dozens in most terrifying year for Turkey’s climate
From a distance, eastern Turkey’s White Lake still looks wet.
A greenish residue left behind by its water creates a mirage from the hills above. But get closer and all that is there is hard, cracked mud.
Locals say the lake, known as Ak Gol in Turkish, used to be full in summer but for the first time this year it has completely dried up. It is another stark warning in a terrifying year for Turkey’s climate.
Parts of the country recorded their highest temperatures yet during a summer heatwave, while severe droughts led to flash floods near the Black Sea that killed almost 100 people.
The worst fires in living memory scorched almost 200,000 hectares of land as they raged for nearly two months along the south-west coast, usually a tourism hot spot.
Eight people were killed, including two firefighters. It is thought that the delicate forest ecosystem will take more than six decades to recover.
Prolonged dry spells and diminished groundwater levels caused sinkholes to open in central Anatolia, while a revolting “sea snot” caused by an explosion of phytoplankton plagued the Sea of Marmara. Fishermen in the area told The National that it was wrecking their trade.
As many as 180 of the country’s 300 natural lakes have dried up over the past 50 years. The losses are devastating for wildlife and the people who make a living from the land.
Gorsum, 20, a shepherd who lives in a small farming village next to Ak Gol, said life had become difficult.
“The sheep don’t have grass to eat now, so it’s affecting us a lot,” he said.
“We don’t let the big animals graze here any more. This year the snow and rain didn’t come and for the last few years it was not much. This place is changing.”
The Mediterranean Basin has been singled out by the UN as a climate hot spot, with Turkey the worst affected part this year. It says more than half of the country is prone to desertification.
In September Turkey became the last G20 country to ratify the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change, almost five years after it came into effect.
Critics say the motivation was €3.1 billion ($3.6bn) in World Bank-funded loans towards meeting clean energy goals rather than genuine commitment to lasting change.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to attend the UN’s Cop26 climate summit that starts in Scotland next week. But there have been no plans to cancel any of the large construction projects the country is working on.
The $9bn Kanal Istanbul, a new waterway through Europe’s most populous city, threatens stretched water sources and will destroy forests and wetlands.
Mr Erdogan has also encouraged investment in intensive agriculture, manufacturing and tourism, all thought to harm nature, as well as huge coal and hydroelectric projects.
“There has actually been a significant increase in carbon emissions in recent years – almost 100 per cent since the 1990s,” said Prof Ecmel Erlat, a climate scientist at Ege University in Izmir.
“We still have about 32 coal power plants in Turkey, so no serious steps have been taken.”
Phasing out coal power is a target for the Cop26 summit, but its use doubled in Turkey in the 10 years before 2018 and the fossil fuel generates a third of the country’s electricity.
Koray Dogan Urbarli, of Turkey’s Green Party, said that reducing reliance on fossil fuels is “not even being talked about”.
“Beekeeping is almost over in Mugla. Farmers are in great distress due to drought – they should all be supported economically,” he said.
“More importantly, it is necessary to give importance to the restoration of natural areas. If we leave these places destroyed, things will only get worse.”