干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

The adverse environmental impacts inflicted upon Kuwait during the Iraqi occupation have been multiple and of gigantic proportions. Over-all the incident has resulted in one of the worst, visibly apparent, manmade disasters of all time. Over 200 oil wells were exploded, approximately 60 million barrels of oil spewed onto the land to form over 300 oil lakes which covered a land area of 49 km(2), 40 million tons of soil became heavily contaminated, and vast areas became covered with aerial mist fall-out, the contaminants from which have migrated as much as 20 m in depth. Also over 6 million barrels of oil were pumped into the Gulf (exceeding by more than 40-50 fold, the oil pollution caused by the Valdez spill). These circumstances posed pollution threats to water sources, as well as plant, animal, fish, the terrestrial habitats of wildlife, the terrestrial habitats, and the coastal and atmospheric environments. This manuscript summarizes the integrated approaches that have been taken by the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research to quantify the environmental damage, ascertain its significance, and adapt the technologies and approaches needed to resolve the complex integrated aspects of this disaster.