Drought at Lake Tuz, Türkiye’s second-largest lake, is severely affecting local wildlife and plant populations, experts say.

Located at the intersection of Ankara, Konya, and Aksaray provinces in central Anatolia, Lake Tuz is one of the country’s most important wetlands for biodiversity. Its basin hosts thousands of birds, including flamingos, and supports a variety of salt-loving endemic plants.

But the lake is shrinking amid rising global temperatures and low rainfall. Recent studies show only about 9,000 hectares of the lake remain covered with water.

Professor Melayib Bilgin, a faculty member in the Environmental Engineering Department at Aksaray University, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the drought is hitting Türkiye with unprecedented intensity.

"Lake Tuz, located in the Konya Plain, is in one of the country’s driest regions,” Bilgin said. "The almost complete absence of rainfall since spring has reduced the lake from the size of 130,000 football fields to just 13,000.”

Bilgin said visitors to the lake can clearly see the scale of the drought. "Unfortunately, Lake Tuz continues to shrink. It is home to flamingos and many other birds. The number of flamingos and their movements also reflect the severity of the drought. This year, flamingos had to migrate earlier due to food shortages caused by the shrinking lake. Fewer chicks were born, and they left sooner.”

The lake also provides a habitat for numerous other animals and salt-tolerant endemic plants. "The drought caused by low rainfall is seriously threatening biodiversity,” Bilgin said.

He noted that the lake has shrunk so much that it is now possible to walk from Şereflikoçhisar in Ankara to Kulu in Konya and then to Eskil in Aksaray – a situation that poses a significant risk to both the lake and its inhabitants.

Bilgin urged stricter control over groundwater use for irrigation and cautioned against planting water-intensive crops. "Farmers’ contributions to our economy are undeniable, but if groundwater levels drop from 30 meters to 300 meters, this is an alarm bell. Sinkholes in Konya are also caused by uncontrolled groundwater extraction. We must protect our water and leave resources for future generations. Continued overuse will leave nothing for them.”