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Costa Rica. 3b. Bilateral-Analyze
In the bilateral conference with Canada, we discussed the anti fracking efforts in Algeria.
Fracking consists in the process of forcing fresh water, chemicals and sand at high pressure into rock deposits underground. This process causes the rocks to break and allows the recovery of shale oil and shale gas, also known as "tight oil", this oil gets trapped in the rock. The problem with fracking is that the pressure breaks the rocks, and this pollutes is existing underground water pockets.
who benefits? European corporations that consume the shale gas that Algeria extracts are the ones to benefit. The extraction is also a safeguard for the Algerian economy because oil and gas are a big portion (about 60%) of all the algerian income and almost all (92%) of export earnings. And since the oil and gas prices dropped 3 years ago the country was at a “state of crisis”.
why gets affected? Harsh chemicals can contaminate these water sources. Water in the desert areas is very scarce and the fact that they use and contaminate the water is outstandingly ignorant to the population living in theses areas that rely on fresh water for living. Also camel owners who must provide a living for their families are affected because they cannot find enough fresh water to give to their camels. People are worried for the aquifers that provide water in the most harsh climate; the desert of Sahara. Farmers form near +the area are protesting because fracking uses so much water that in a near future it might make it harder to do agriculture. Also people are worried that the waters are going to be polluted causing a big problem not only to Algeria, but also to Libya and Tunisia.
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Absolutely Heather, the negative impacts of fracking can not be overestimated. One of its most serious threats is the contamination of underground water formation which is the source of domestic water for many rural communities, people have a good reason to be worried. Also the amount of water used in fracking operation is massive, and of course fresh water is finite, great care needs to be exercised in its usage. Gratefully , there are recent talks around efficient recycling of waste water from fracking process, but it is heavily dependent on cost, recent technological advancement is however bringing down the cost of waste water recycle.
The issue of who benefits is sensitive because resource extraction is suppose to create jobs, employment and economic development to the resource owners and benefit the extractors as well, but this has not been the case. Resource rich countries have on average done poorly in managing their resources but progress is still possible if they get economic and political support.
Do you have any proposal on this issue? can you please share?
Great work Heather, please keep the green work....:)
Sandra Ukaigwe
Oct 24, 2017