Opportunities of Cold Environments
- Cold environments provide opportunities but are put at risk by the development and exploitation of resources
- Opportunities include:
- Mineral extraction
- Energy
- Fishing
- Tourism
- Mineral extraction:
- There are valuable reserves of gold, silver, iron ore and copper
- Many countries are increasing their mining activities beneath the tundra
- Russia has exploited a large portion of the tundra to extract minerals
- Energy
- Gas and oil are abundant
- The US government is extracting oil from the oilfields near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska
- Heat from the terminal buildings, workers homes and transport to and from the oil fields has led to permafrost melt and buildings subsiding
- Fishing
- The cold coastal waters have good fish stocks
- These waters attract commercial fishing
- The deep, cold water is ideal for unusual fish which command a high price in markets around the globe
- Overfishing had led to fish stocks being depleted
- Tourism
- Places such as Antarctica have seen an increase in the number of tourists
- Approximately 170,000 tourists visited Antarctica in 2020
- Adventure tourism to extreme cold environments is a growth industry for countries and local communities