Topic: Offshore Drilling
Country: Panama
Delegate Name: Hannah Miner
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Panama position papers GLIMUN 2008 committees
The need for oil has been a cause for concern in many countries in the past decade or so. As the world’s population increases exponentially, so does the number of cars. In the last thirty years, the number of vehicles throughout the world has increased more than three times. Developing nations are joining the ranks of industrialized nations by their use of transportation and energy use. Many find offshore drilling to be a solution to the problem because it is more cost-effective. But in reality, offshore drilling causes substantial amounts of water pollution and is extremely toxic to marine life. As a country located near one of the “hot spots” for offshore drilling, the Gulf of Mexico, Panama is against the expansion and promotion of offshore drilling.
Panama is a very environmentally concerned country, and being a connection between the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean, is affected by water pollution in many ways. The water pollution threatens many fisheries, which is a huge export from Panama. The effect of offshore drilling and water pollution is a hazard to many country’s economies and industry.
Offshore drilling has a large impact on the areas it occurs in and does not save much money on oil in the long run. Global oil demand is expected to increase by more than thirty percent in the next thirty years and statistics show that offshore drilling will not help lower the price of oil at all. The only real solution to the problem is alternative energy sources. Eventually the planet will run out of oil and we need to start coming up with solutions before it is too late.
In order to make the world a safer place to live in, offshore drilling will eventually need to stop completely. More research for alternatives to oil needs to be done so the world overall can have a safer and cleaner environment. Panama advocates for a decrease and eventual end to offshore drilling because in the long run, it will decrease the air and water pollution, and push us to find alternative energy sources that are healthier for the environment.
