Climate, politics double threat as Tigris-Euphrates shrivels

By SAMYA KULLAB
Associated Press

DAWWAYAH, Iraq and ILISU DAM, Turkey (AP) — A combination of climate change and politics is threatening the Tigris-Euphrates river system, one of the world’s most vulnerable watersheds. River flows have fallen 40% in the past four decades as the countries along their length — Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq — have each acted on their own to exploit the water. Rising temperatures are projected to make the drop even worse. Still, Turkey and Iraq, the two biggest water consumers, have been unable to reach a deal sharing the vital waters. The stakes are high, from Turkish farmers hoping for a windfall from new dams to Iraqis giving up on barren fields no longer reached by river waters.