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Essay Subject: Examines the effects of oil well fires and spills following the 1991 Persian Gulf War.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines the effects of oil well fires and spills following the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Saddam Hussein's orders for Kuwait's oil wells to be blown up and set on fire by retreating Iraqi troops as an act of ecological terrorism and vandalism. Economic costs, and long-term cost in environmental damage. Paper Introduction: ECOLOGICAL VANDALISM IN THE GULF, 1991 The Effects of Oil Well Fires and Spills Following the Persian Gulf War When Iraqi troops were compelled to retreat from Kuwait in February of 1991, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein gave orders for Kuwait's oil wells to be blown up and set on fire. This constituted an act of ecological warfare, or perhaps ecological terrorism. Since the action seemed to serve no clear strategic purpose, however, it might most accurately be regarded as an act of vandalism. In all, 613 oil well fires were set by the retreating Iraqi troops, and the last of these was not extinguished until November 6, 1991, nearly nine months after they were set (Charrier, 1998, p. iii). The shor Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. 27). Charrier, Bertrand (1998). Overall, about 2 percent of the salt marshes showed full recovery by2 1, while 25 percent "are still completely dead without any sign ofregeneration" (Barth, 2 1, p. In contrast, salt marshes-- which accounted for nearly half of the most-affected coastline --suffered severe and persisting damage (Barth, 2 1). In the weeks and months before the fires were controlled andextinguished, air temperatures in the region were reduced by as much as 1 degrees C (18 degrees F), while water temperatures were also reducedseveral degrees (Charrier, 1998, p. 4). v). The gulf between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, which provides themaritime connection between the Tigris-Euphrates river system and the openocean, is known as both the Arabian Gulf and the Persian Gulf. The smokeplumes rising from hundreds of burning oil wells were easily visible fromouter space. ECOLOGICAL VANDALISM IN THE GULF, 1991 The Effects of Oil Well Fires and Spills Following the Persian Gulf War When Iraqi troops were compelled to retreat from Kuwait in Februaryof 1991, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein gave orders for Kuwait's oil wellsto be blown up and set on fire. In addition, smoke and soot contaminated 953square kilometers (368 square miles) of desert (Charrier, 1998, p. The most severe damage was found on the coast of Saudi Arabia betweenRas Al Khafji and Ras al Ghar (Price et al., 1994, p. There are indications that Gulf waters hadalready been subjected to considerable environmental stress. Arab seamen and merchants originating from the Gulfwould later transmit Islamic civilization as far eastward as Indonesia andparts of the Philippines (Price et al., 1994, p. 3). The marine oil spill into the Gulftotaled 1 million barrels, about six times that of the previous largestmarine spill from the tanker Amoco Cadiz (Charrier, 1998, p. An Environmental Assessment of Kuwait,Seven Years After the Gulf War. The broader question raised by ecological damage is its long-termconsequences. iv). In general, rockysections of coastline have completely recovered. (1994)appear to have suffered minimal damage (Barth, 2 1, p. 12). The intent of this study is to examine what is now known of the long-term extent and effects of environmental damage resulting from the oil-welldestructions, and the ability of ecosystems to recover from damage causedby human action, whether deliberate as in this case or accidental,resulting from carelessness rather than malice. 53). Even so, theseepage of oil into fresh-water aquifers has done long-term damage to aprecious regional resource. In modern times, the Gulf is one of the world's primary shippingroutes for oil, and its resulting economic and strategic importance isobvious. Since the action seemed to serveno clear strategic purpose, however, it might most accurately be regardedas an act of vandalism. In addition to oil that burned, or spilledinto the Gulf, no fewer than 246 oil "lakes" formed, covering 49 squarekilometers (19 square miles). Inparticular, an aquifer providing 4 percent of Kuwait's water supply wascontaminated (Charrier, 1998, p. Oil spills into the Gulf affected some 15 kilometers or 9 milesof coastline (Charrier, 1998, p. In all, 613 oil well fires were set by theretreating Iraqi troops, and the last of these was not extinguished untilNovember 6, 1991, nearly nine months after they were set (Charrier, 1998,p. iv). 1994, p. Unsurprisingly, the additional damage was found primarily in thenorthern Gulf waters, north of Abu Dhabi, in the region nearest to thedestroyed Kuwaiti wells (Price et al., 1994, p. 4). Reefs and fisheries, however, appear to have recovered quickly (Priceet al. (1994). The studies considered above can give only a partial and still-tentative picture of the full environmental effects of Saddam Hussein's actof ecological vandalism in 1991. 3). In the Gulf and along its coasts, the extent and persistence ofdamage varied. The short-term effects of the oil fires were dramatic. Price, A.R.G., et al. Coral reefs and the fisheries they support largely escapeddamage, as did rocky stretches of coast. Core samplestaken in 1993 showed that severe contamination persisted just below thesurface in intertidal and shallow subtidal coastal areas (Price, 1994, p.15). differed widely, ranging from the Gulfbecoming virtually lifeless to more or less trivial effects" (Price, 1994,p. Forpurposes of this discussion, it will be termed simply the Gulf. More recent surveys conducted a decade after the war, have tended toconfirm the picture of damage found in the early 199 s. This of course is in addition to, andseparate from, the economic costs in destroyed or damaged oil facilitiesand other infrastructure. The oil spills, along with other environmental effects of the GulfWar caused a substantial increase in the severity of marine and littoralenvironmental damage, as measured at some 35 locations along the coast ofSaudi Arabia. Infact, "predictions often ... In the immediate wake of the Gulf War, the environmentaleffects seemed catastrophic, and were widely thus reported at the time. iii). 15). These locations showed a mean early postwar (1991)environmental damage index of 3.2 , nearly double the prewar (1986) mean of1.77. Beaches appear to have recovered;though the long-term effects of oil under the surface sand remains to beseen. Decades more may thus be required for afull recovery of the salt marshes. In all, Saddam Hussein's order to set Kuwait'soil wells on fire is surely the costliest act of vandalism in history. Of the oil spilled on land, 95 percent of the total was eventuallyremoved (and exported), but some 5 percent remained, and "continues topollute the desert with a high risk of contaminating the fresh and brackishground water that is so limited in the region" (Charrier, 1998, p. Rocky sections of coastline have completely recovered,while coral reefs in the Gulf, as noted earlier by Price et al. The smoke and soot of the fires may havecaused harm up to thousands of miles away, even if dispersed over too largean area to be readily identifiable. This constituted an act of ecologicalwarfare, or perhaps ecological terrorism. Sandy beaches are in an intermediate position, with some 2 percentstill showing signs of oil beneath fresh sand, but with species similar tounaffected beaches. In addition, desalination plants drawing on Gulf waters providemuch of the region with fresh water, while Gulf fisheries are both amultimillion dollar industry, a source of food supply, and of substantialregional social importance (Price et al., 1994, p. 3). The Coastal Ecosystems 1 Years After the1991 Gulf War Oil Spill. It hasbeen an important seaway from the beginning of recorded history, when amaritime civilization known as Dilmun was in contact with the ancientMesopotamian cities. The most severe damage was suffered by coastal salt marshes, a richbut delicate ecosystem. References Barth, Hans-Jorg (2 1). Thesestresses range from coastal development to discharge of sewage to coral-reef damage resulting from ships' anchors (Price et al, 1994, p. Green Cross International. In all, the total cost in environmental damage has been estimated at$4 billion (Charrier, 1998, p. A quarter of the severely affected marshes remain"dead" a decade later, and may only recover over generations. Prior to the Gulf War, the ecology of the Gulf marine environment hadbeen relatively little studied. Indeed, in some locations no significant recovery has taken place atall. About7 kilometers of coastline, some 4 miles, suffered severe damage,"erasing most of the local plant and animal communities" (Barth, 2 1, p.1). iii). iii). iii). International Union forConservation of Nature and Natural Resources.----------------------- 1 The oil spillage on land may have doneless damage than it might have in other locales, simply because of theextreme desert conditions prevailing in most of Kuwait. Altogether, an estimated 6 million barrels of oil were released fromthe damaged or destroyed wells. The 1991 Gulf War: EnvironmentalAssessments of IUCN and Collaborators. iv). NCWCD / German Research Foundation. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.