The global demand for oil and gas is increasing. Some believe that we should therefore encourage the exploitation of remote areas. Do the advantages outweigh disadvantages?
Some are of the opinion that due to high demand for fuels, exploitation of distant areas is to be encouraged. In my opinion, self-centered utilization of far-off lands has more detrimental effects than merits.
To begin with, one of the adverse effects of exploiting remote places is pollution. To explain, extraction process of fossil fuels can generate several pollutants from mines which create air and land pollution. Moreover, oil spills from mines and oil wells leads to water pollution. For example, fuel extraction in Nigeria during 1970s caused serious water contamination due to oil leak from petroleum mines.
In addition to that, another unfavorable result of exploiting remote regions is destruction of native flora and fauna. To elaborate, when land is used for extracting non-renewable energy sources, vegetation around that particular area is affected which even lead to extinction of several plants and trees and even animals depending on them. For instance, having coal mine established in a Maharashtrian Village of Chandrapur in India, the after effect was serious decline of some plants which were once abundant in that location which affected biodiversity.
However, there are some benefits in exploring faraway places for fuels as it can solve the issue of gas and oil scarcity faced by nations. To make it clear, if new sources of gas and petroleum are found in any remote areas, it could be mined out to reduce shortage of non-renewable energy sources. A case in point is, when fuel sources were found out in African rural areas other than those in Middle East nations, it helped the world to tackle the fuel crisis to an extent.
After analyzing both pros and cons of exploitation of remote lands, I believe that it has more demerits compared to its positive impact since issue like pollution and damage done to pants and animals have long lasting impacts and could not be solved effectively. Meanwhile, the advantages like solving fuel scarcity to a certain limit have minimal effects compared to its ill effects.
To conclude, exploitation of remote places for finding fuel sources has more disadvantages than positive outcomes.