the entire Okavango delta from a satellite

Oil drilling, possible fracking planned for Okavango region—elephants’ last stronghold

Hundreds of oil wells could come to cover a huge expanse in Namibia and Botswana, in what has been called possibly the “largest oil play of the decade.”

Seen from space, fingers of green define Botswana's Okavango Delta. This approximately 7,000-square-mile wetland amid the Kalahari Desert is fed by rains in Angola’s highlands. Brimming with wild animals and plants, the delta “is what the term ‘biodiversity hot spot’ was coined for,” says Marion Hammerl, president of the Global Nature Fund. Experts say that if large-scale oil production in a massive area north and west of the delta were to proceed, it would harm this fragile ecosystem.

Photograph by Satellite Earth Art, Getty
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