Drowning the Poor

This book examines the ways in which water §development projects have altered the socioeconomic §structure and natural environment in southeastern §Anatolia, Turkey. Southeastern Anatolia Project §(GAP) entails the construction of 21 dams and 17 §power plants on the Turkish portion of the Euphrates §and Tigris Rivers and their tributaries. The social §and environmental costs of this type of project are §very high. However, governments often ignore these §costs and continue to implement water development §projects. This model of water project serves the §organizational and regulatory power of the dominant §fraction of capital rather than either the interests §of subdominant or subordinate classes or §the general interest of society. The benefits §and burdens of large dams in Turkey are not §distributed equally. Rather, these local §populations are bearing a disproportionate share of §the negative social and §environmental externalities or consequences of the §project because of class, ethnicity, and gender §considerations, i.e., environmental injustice.