DOMINO EFFECT Tool 1 – Activity 3 The Gulf War “During the first

DOMINO EFFECT
Tool 1 – Activity 3
The Gulf War
“During the first Gulf War, which was triggered in the Persian Gulf after Kuwait was occupied by
Iraq in 1990, the Iraqi armed forces set fire to 732 oil wells in order to darken the sky to impede air
activity by the international coalition that had come to the aid of the Kuwaitis. It was an ecological
disaster. Over much of the region to the south of Kuwait, black smoke rose 600 metres above the earth.
Visibility was reduced from 25 to 4 kilometres in the region, and the temperature declined by up to 10°C.
Weather conditions were altered within a 500-kilometre radius. Traces of smoke were found as far away
as the Himalayas. Not only that, but an immense oil slick resulted when 100,000 tons of crude oil were
deliberately spilled from the Mina al Ahmadi terminal by Iraq, covering the Gulf shores of Kuwait, Saudi
Arabia and Iran. This war caused lots of damage to the soil, air and water quality, which are still being felt
today. The widespread destruction of natural habitat, the contamination of arable land and sources of
water in a region that was already very arid, were among the direct impacts of this conflict”.
Reference :
Le Prestre, Philippe (professeur à l’UQAM). Protection de l’environnement et relations internationales : Les défis de
l’écopolitique mondiale, Paris, Armand Colin, Éditions Dalloz, 2005, aux p. 380 à 384, [and]
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerre_du_Golfe_(1990-1991)
The following link to reference above offers an English alternative http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War