New photos show the shrinking Devegecidi Dam Lake in Diyarbakir, Turkey, which is suffering the effects of drought due to climate change.

Migratory birds still attempt to find food on the drying ground and endemic plants and animals are seen struggling in their natural habitats.

The Devegecidi Dam, located on the Tigris River, is was completed in 1972 and is one of 22 dams of the Southeastern Anatolia Project. But the lake, which was created for irrigation purposes, is now seen crusting and drying, like much of the marshlands in the Middle East.

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A paper published by the UN Environment Program more than a decade ago called the loss of the Mesopotamian marshes due to dams and drainage schemes "one of the world’s greatest environmental disasters." But that disaster is now even worse due to climate change-driven drought. The area once known as the Fertile Crescent, which would span parts of modern-day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Egypt and the southeastern region of Turkey and the western area of Iran, is now becoming a salt-encrusted desert.

Historical climate data reveals an unrelenting rise in temperatures across the region. As the soil dries out, evaporation increases. And as evaporation increases, winds blow the resulting dust to create encroaching deserts. It may have started with the creation of dams, but climate change is exacerbating the problem.

The sad reality can be seen in the images above which show the cracked ground, turtles with few places to hide and dwindling water levels. Click through the slideshow to see what little is left of Devegecidi Dam Lake.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.