Virunga National Park: Power Plants and Natural Resource Exploitation
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is home to Virunga
National Park, an ecologically diverse area of land. The area lacks
electricity, infrastructure and overall development, making it difficult for
anyone to make a living. Because of these economic stressors combined with the
already high political tensions, many people turn to illegal natural resource
extraction. The trees in Virunga National Park are often deforested to make
charcoal while rebels and oil prospectors also exploit the area. Even though
the national park is estimated to be more valuable when protected, the direct
and indirect values of tourism, fisheries and hydropower development do not
combat the immediate need for sources of energy and income to support the
expanding population. This results in continued attempts to use the national
park for land expansion, food, and fuel. Although hydropower is being
implemented in the area, it is a very slow and expensive process which effects
the continuation of natural resource extraction from the national park.
The article brought up an interesting point that economic and
infrastructure development through a renewable resource based economy will not
necessarily eliminate or limit the conflict in the area. In my opinion, from a
Western point of view, there is a tendency to want developing countries to
reach our definition of environmental stewardship, however a quick switch to
these processes could lead to even more conflict and corruption. Because of the
instability that is already existent in these countries, a rapid increase in
the economy could further the tensions. Although the environmental exploitation
is not ideal, a slow implementation of these renewable practices could help
eliminate some of the conflict they might otherwise face with a rapid economic
growth.
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I think that this article and Alexandra's summary highlights a very important issue in environmental sustainability in developing countries. Despite it sometimes being more economically sound to protect the environment through national parks, the time it takes for citizens to see an economic benefit from it leads to unrest. This can cause, as highlighted above, illegal deforestation and oil drilling, harming the environment and ultimately taking away from the economic value of the protected land. What developing countries ultimately need to work on is finding ways to sustain the environment, while giving citizens immediate economic benefits. I think Alexandra's idea of slowly implementing sustainable policies and technologies is a possibility, but it isn't ideal to delay full sustainability.
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