Topic Question:

To what extent is oil pollution affecting a country’s environmental

sustainability?
Introduction:
Oil pollution occurs when oil spills into rivers, bays, and the oceans mostly by accidents
involving tankers, barrages, pipelines, refineries, drilling rigs, and storage facilities. The
breaking down of equipment and natural disasters such as hurricanes could also be a
crucial cause for oil pollution. ("Oil Spills." How Do Spills Happen?). This affects a country’s
environmental sustainability to such an extent that it leads to disastrous consequences for
the marine life and the environment of the affected area.
Global Perspective:
Canada
In 2014, Canada was not prepared to deal with Arctic water oil spills because if they occur
“they could pose some challenges for monitoring.”[The document ‘An Emergency
Response Biomonitoring Plan for Accidental Spills’ Bailey, Sue.]. But after the California
pipeline leak incident, it proved to be a lesson for Canada, therefore Canada started to
invest a lot of money in science to protect the waters from getting polluted. Now more than
$80 million is being funded for new partnerships, improved knowledge and new
technologies that will help decrease marine incidents such as oil spills. ("Canada Is Investing
in Science to Protect Our Waters from Oil Spills.”) Although precautions are being taken in
Canada, the oil pollution numbers are still growing due to all the unconventional fuel being
produced, and it is more polluting than conventional oil as it requires significant energy to
extract, increasing its carbon emissions, and also has raised concerns over the marine
environment, as fish die and the water gets polluted, consequently decreasing Canada’s
environmental sustainability.(Association, Press.)
Mexico
In Mexico the oil pollution rates are growing in an alarming speed, because of all the oil
spills that have taken place in recent years. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill which started on
20 April 2010 is considered as the largest marine oil spill in the history of petroleum
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industry. It killed 11 oil rig workers.("BP Leak the World's Worst Accidental Oil Spill."). The
countries sustainability decreased to such an extent that the country’s stability levels began
fluctuating until now. Local industries, such as fishing were threatened as there was a ban
on fishing in the polluted water. Plants and animals because of pollution became coated
with oil and the marine animals were found dead. Fish stocks were harmed and
productivity decreased.("GCSE Bitesize: Case Study: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and BP.") Although
these are consequences of the Mexico oil spill, they are still issues which affect the Mexican
environmental sustainability till now.
Greece
Oil pollution plays an important role in the Greece’s economy and sustainability level. The
government of Greece seems least bothered with the oil spills as the Greek opposition and
local mayors of Athens have accused the government for allowing an oil spill to spread. But
the government says that everything is under control and all will be “forgotten in a few
days.” [According to http://www.dw.com/en/greece-struggles-to-clean-up-relatively-small-
oil-spill-as-black-slick-spreads/a-40511068 says Greek politician Kouroumplis]. I chose this
source because it is Germany’s public international broadcaster and like any other news
agency it contains some bias, but not enough to discredit without any other discrediting
service. The locals however, are not satisfied with the government’s assurance as they
believe that it has damaged the beaches to such an extent that beachgoers and fishermen
were told by the mayors to avoid the areas contaminated by oil. The beaches of Athens also
had to be shut down due to the vandalism. Also the marine biome of Athens has been
greatly affected by this “small” oil spill which the government struggled to put a halt to,
therefore devastating the economy of Greece due to all the clean-up charges and loss of
tourism because of the widespread spill and also affected the marine biome by killing ten
thousands of sea birds and fish species.(Deutsche Welle.)
National Perspective:
Pakistan does not face many oil spills on its shores but did have a disastrous oil spill called
“Tasman Spirit.” It took place on the 13 and 14 of August 2003 in Karachi and left a huge
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impact on the countries sustainability till now. The Greek tanker, ‘Tasman Spirit,’ was
carrying 67,000 tons of “Iranian light crude oil” from Iran to Pakistan. The tanker split
open and released its cargo. Two more outpourings of oil followed, the last one being on the
29 of August 2003, resulting in a total spill of more than 35,000 tons of crude oil. Most of
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the affected shoreline was occupied by high ranking retired army officers, rich business
men, and high income professionals, depicting that large businesses had also been affected
according to https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3418438/.(Janjua, Naveed Zafar,
Muhammad Masood Kadir, Shahid Lutfi, Meghan Tipre, and Nalini Sathiakumar.). I chose this source
because it is very reliable as it is a national center of biotechnology information in the US
and did not contain any bias but stated facts and gave reasons for its facts. Moreover the
marine biome had also been affected by the oil spill as it killed the phytoplanktons and the
mangrove propagules and seedlings, thereby affecting the benthic food chain and the
reproductive potential of the mangroves of the neighboring areas.("Effects of Tasman Spirit
Oil."). The effects did not finish after a few years or so after the oil spill incident, they are
still affecting the countries sustainability even after 15 years as the health of the residents
was greatly affected and so was the marine life.
Proposed Course of Action
Oil spills happen accidentally so no one can precisely tell when, where or how they will
occur, but precautions can be taken before hand to help decrease the negative impacts of
oil pollution. Developing a contingency plan can help decrease oil spills as you know what
to do in case of an emergency.("Area Contingency Planning."). Dispersants can also be used to
help reduce the damage done by oil spills. Dispersants are chemical agents that help break
up an oil slick into tiny droplets which can dilute throughout the water. Although this does
not remove the spilled material, the smaller oil particles can easily be biodegraded
providing protection to sensitive habitats. These dispersants are sprayed onto spills by
planes or boats.("Oceans.").
Reflection
Before conducting this research I had no idea oil spills were such a threat to the
environment. I had assumed that when oil pollutions took place the government of that
place took charge, but after conducting this research I realized that oil pollution was not
taken seriously around the world, but after some major oil spills like the Tasman Spirit,
developed countries such as Canada started taking oil spills seriously by funding projects
and hiring scientists. But underdeveloped countries like Pakistan do not have enough
money for cleaning up the oil spills, thus preventing them from further developing. This
also contributes to further affecting their environmental sustainability.
Conclusion
In conclusion, oil spills need to be taken seriously around the world whether the country is
developed or not. Especially when it’s not developed as a contingency plan needs to be
made to ensure that the country won’t have to suffer economic and environmental loss that
will further affect their environmental sustainability and development.

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