Page:Niger Delta Ecosystems- the ERA Handbook, 1998.djvu/180

Environmental Impact of the Oil Industry open for decades after clearing. The problem is exacerbated by repeat survey exercises over the same area. Subsequent damage to ecosystems follows.

Although the prospecting exercises typically last for only a few months, they involve large numbers of incoming labour.

Although any sort of employment ought to be seen as an economic benefit, seismic prospecting exercises typically employ young men from the local community for a few weeks or months only, paying wages that are much higher than they are likely to ever find again. This exacerbates the feelings of discontent and inequality that the oil industry generally brings in its wake.

The main environmental issues: actions and problems (from an SPDC fact book of 1993):

178