Environment

A threat to the African ecosystems

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27 July 2021

By Josh P

With all the recent calamities in the ocean, you would expect companies to be acting with more caution when it comes to oil drilling affairs. BP, however, is planning to establish a new drilling operation on the edge of the world’s largest cold-water coral reef.

You’d think alarm bells would be ringing immediately as a result of this proposal. With both the Sri Lankan cargo ship disaster and the gas leak in the Gulf of Mexico, it’s abundantly clear how devastating human affairs in the ocean have been in recent months.

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The oil giant has begun its operation to establish this new facility along the west coast of Africa. This area of the ocean is responsible for homing many threatened species, including turtles and whales.

Pipelines linked to the facility will run through the coral reef network at the bottom of the ocean. This could potentially impede the creatures that currently live within the coral network.

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The placement of this facility seems absurd considering how devastating oil leaks and spills can be on the environment they are in. It’s quite evident that profit is the key consideration for the company. The facility is part of a project which intends to drill 40trillion cubic feet of gas across the next 30 years.

While the ocean is threatened by the existence of this new facility, the potential danger doesn’t end there for the environment. Alongside the ocean, other ecosystems could be hit by the new facility.

The facility will be placed around several sensitive ecosystems. This includes several national parks which home numerous species including monkeys and migratory birds.

Any large scale disasters and potential pollution could result in serious ramifications for not only marine life and the coral reef but also terrestrial life.

With BP being so well-known for the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010 which had such a catastrophic impact on the environment, many conservationists will likely be extremely concerned by the existence of this new facility in Africa.

Hopefully, BP is putting a great deal of consideration into the prevention of potential spills and pollution which could be caused by this new facility. It would be extremely upsetting if this new facility causes serious environmental issues for the ecosystem.

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