Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The Gulf War oil spill was initially estimated to be around 6 million barrels.
However, according to a UN report, oil from other sources not included in the offi-
cial estimates continued to pour into the Persian Gulf through June 1991 and may
have reached 24 million barrels.
The Exxon Valdez spill in the Arctic in 1989 was a relatively modest spill of
260,000 barrels, but, owing to the ecological sensitiveness of that area, it provoked
widespread coverage in the media and led to multibillion-dollar damage suits and
a moratorium on oil drilling in that area.
The main reason for worldwide deforestation is changes in land use for the expan-
sion of crops and grazing areas.
Deforestation and desertification are caused by a combination of intense human
exploration and local ecological frailty. Such activities include population growth
and migratory pressures; crop substitution; political problems, mainly in Africa,
which hinder the seasonal migration of livestock breeders across provincial and
national boundaries; poor policies promoting population relocation because of in-
appropriateness of soil and other conditions; and national development strategies
that excessively prioritize predatory activities such as timber production, forest
products, crops, and cattle raising. The latter two are the major causes of the
Brazilian Amazon deforestation.
Even without government incentives, deforestation is a lucrative business: the
market price of a hectare of virgin forest more than doubles after being burned and
