Turkish investment in water power led to environmental destruction

Small-scale projects with renewable energy: how can that go wrong? Mine Islar is among the first group of doctoral students in sustainability science. Her research shows that the expansion of hydroelectric power in Turkey has led to environmental destruction and caused thousands of farmers to be driven from their land.

Turkey is a high energy consumer and the State cannot afford to invest in the development of renewable energy. In 2003 the Turkish hydroelectric power sector was opened up to private entrepreneurs, but development did not really take off until 2009. Then the World Bank began, to the delight of the Turkish Government, to portion out money to small energy companies that wanted to develop hydroelectricity in Turkey. The country would finally get environmentally friendly energy without the Government having to pay for its development.

“The problem was that it all happened much too quickly and consideration was not given to the farmers who live by the rivers and are dependent on the water for their crops”, says Mine Islar. Expansion at record speed has led to widespread environmental destruction and shortages of water for the farmers and their fields.

The World Bank chose to only lend money to small companies because it had had bad experiences, for example in Bolivia, where large multinational companies bought up the country’s water rights. The problem with the small companies, according to Mine Islar, was a lack of quality control – the water power did not turn out to be as clean and environmentally friendly as had been intended.
“There are so many parties involved, so sometimes a single river has been split between some 20 companies, both domestic and foreign”, explains Mine Islar.

As the expansion continues, protests against the new water policy have increased. Farmers are organising themselves, marches are being held and building work disrupted, all with the aim of stopping the development.
Until now, Mine Islar’s research has focused on defining the problem: why has the development of small-scale renewable energy failed to succeed, despite good intentions?

“One problem is the economic system – the neoliberal market”, says Mine Islar. “Those companies that borrow money have to get started quickly in order to be able to start paying back their loans. Therefore the development has happened far too rapidly and without popular support. The requirement to make a profit has also meant that the quality control of the small companies has not been careful enough.”

Mine Islar will devote the remainder of her doctoral studies to different solutions; looking at what can be done to rectify the current situation so that all parties are satisfied.

“Our supervisors have expressly asked that we not only identify the problem areas, but also identify possible solutions for sustainable development”, says Mine Islar.

Ulrika Oredsson