One region in particular, which has experienced severe economic growth and development, is the state of Alaska. In 1968, the great quantities of oil and gas discovered beneath Alaska’s North Slope, overlooking Prudhoe Bay, subsequently led to the construction of the Trans-Alaska pipeline to Valdez in 1974. This increased communication links and trade links and therefore brought in vast amounts of money for the economy and until 1990, oil and natural gas still provided 85% of Alaska’s gross state product.
As personal wealth and length of leisure time are increasing, people are beginning to seek out new, more exotic locations. For example, tourism in Alaska has become a vital industry, attracting almost 1.1 million people per year. Visitors not only come to view the landscape features, such as its coasts, glaciers and mountains, but also to see its huge variety of wild life (ranging from Brown bears to sea-lions) and for fishing (especially salmon). Such levels of tourism have increased economic development as tourists themselves bring money into the state as well as foreign currency. Tourism is constantly increasing and being developed as the government want to diversify employment opportunities in order to increase the rate of economic growth.
Antarctica has similar reasons for economic development, however, on a much smaller scale due to its uninhabitable climate and landscape. The tourism industry is increasing, going from its first cruise in 1964 to now receiving 10,000 visitors each year to come and see the penguins, seals and other wildlife and to go fishing. Fishing also became a major activity when soviet fleets started to do commercial fishing here in 1967. However, the discovery of seals (especially fur seals) and their wealth by Captain Cook in 1775, led to the introduction of the sealing industry, which brought in great profit for the economy. After 1840, the sealing industry was replaced by whales and whale processing stations, which also boosted the economy. These stations, located in Grytviken, have now been turned into outdoor museums as a source of tourism. Although it may not contribute much to the economy, following World War II, there was a significant rise in scientific research and a number of countries have set up year-round research stations, such as Chile, Britain and Australia. There is also a wide range of minerals here, including iron ore, chromium and platinum.
Both Arctic regions and Antarctica suffer from the environmental consequences caused by economic development, such as overfishing, water and land pollution, as well as industrial related issues such as acidification and radioactivity in the Arctic region. With the large, developed fishing industries, overfishing has become a serious issue, as people are worried about the sustainability of fish supplies, which are being exploited in order to provide food and healthy minerals for the growing population. Already, the vast change in fish stocks has affected marine life in the surrounding oceans. Although whaling is now illegal, the impact, which economic development and consequently the whaling industry had on whale stocks, was immense. For example, of the 250,000 blue whales, which existed in 1900, only 500 remain.
However, perhaps the most unforgettable consequence of direct economic development was the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, which covered Prince William Sound in Alaska with 11 million gallons of crude oil. This incident not only led to severe environmental problems, but great economic problems as well. One third of the commercial fishery of Prince William Sound was destroyed, which greatly affected the fish stocks, which were already lower than usual. In addition, it affected the fishermen as normally, salmon catch creates $36 million a year, however, because so much of the area had been destroyed, the profit was going to be much lower. Four years later, $2.8 billion had been spent on cleaning up the land and on claims, which is a great economic loss and the oil and gas industry only provided 8,900 jobs.
In terms of tourism, the growing numbers of visitors each year to these polar and sub-polar regions are threatening the environment and putting pressure on the wildlife and the land. In order to gain access to areas in Arctic regions, new roads and airstrips have to be built, leading to destruction of ecosystems and the change and damage to local traditions and cultures causes conflicts between locals and tourists.
On the other hand, however, there have been some beneficial consequences. For example, in Alaska, the increase in tourism meant that in 1999, tourism generated $658 million to its economy and employed 15,900 people and is the third largest industry in Alaska. Its fishing industry, which is the second largest after oil and gas, employs 13,000 people directly and another 9,200 in seafood processing. The concern for sustainability in all the polar and sub-polar regions has meant that many agreements have been made and conservation groups have been set up in order to protect and sustain the environment and the economies. For example, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) manages fishing quotas and policies in Prince William Sound to control overfishing.
As world population increased, regions, especially densely populated countries with no or few resources of their own, needed to support growing populations, looked to polar and sub-polar regions for fishery development and resource exploitation, which consequently led to tourism. The results of these developments have both good and bad consequences; however, in order to retain their rich supply of resources and almost unharmed natural environments, sustainability must be a key factor in throughout the process of economic development.
