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ACTION ALERT: Protect Mesopotamia from the Ilisu Dam

The Ilisu Dam is now under construction.

The Ilisu Dam is now under construction.

Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow has just signed a petition to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee urging them to protect the cultural and natural heritage of Mesopotamia which is in great danger due to the construction of the Ilisu Dam on the Turkish stretch of the Tigris River. The dam would impact on the right to water for thousands of people and lead to the destruction of an area with ten thousand years of world heritage.

The petition has also been signed by Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, London/UK; BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany); Center for Human Rights and Environment (CEDHA), Argentina; Ecologistas en Accion, Spain; Insurrección Autónoma, Honduras; Les Amis de la Terre (Friends of the Earth France); Water and Energy Users’ Federation-Nepal (WAFED); and numerous other groups.

The letter can be read here, http://www.gegenstroemung.org/drupal/sites/default/files/Ilisu_UNESCO_Petition_2012_en.pdf. To sign the petition, please go to http://www.change.org/petitions/unesco-world-heritage-committee-save-world-heritage-on-the-tigris-river-in-mesopotamia.

Please join Maude Barlow and the 17,000 other people who have signed this petition to make sure that the UNESCO World Heritage Committee hears concerns about the Ilisu Dam from around the world.