Nations should pass laws to preserve any remaining wilderness areas in their natural state even if these areas could be developed for economic gain Write a response in which you discuss your views on the policy and explain your reasoning for the position

Whether to develop wilderness areas is always a tug-of-war between environmental protection and potential economic gain. Some people suggest that nations are incumbent on passing regulations to preserve and protect all remaining wilderness areas. In my opinion, I somewhat agree with the statement, and I will present two points to support my argument. However, I also concede that in some extreme cases, developing natural areas does not cause much harm to an environment.

First of all, most of the natural wilderness areas are fragile and delicate, and any damage done to them can have an irreversible effect. Take the Shougzan rain forest in Southwest China, for instance. In the mid-1970s. the Chinese government started the project of cutting down on the pristine trees and exported them as timber to stimulate economic growth. The economic benefit the timber industry brought to was tremendous that the quality of living in Southwest China increased a lot. However, the damage wrought by deforestation was detrimental as the whole ecosystem was forever eradicated to the extent where there was steep drop in the number of wild animals after a decade of deforestation. As the timber indutsry shrivel and die dowm; however, the rain forest did not revitalize and the place remains barren even today. As a result, nations ought to pass laws to prohibit economical development on wilderness areas as the consequence can be irreversible.

Secondly, the remaining wilderness areas serves to mitigate the detrimental effect of extreme weather change on people’s livelihoods. For example, in South Africa, the natural landscape along the coastline has been proved to efficiently keep a tab on the number of locust – considered by many the most destructive migratory pest. The natural enviroment there serves to attenuate the frequecy of extreme weather conditions such as strong cyclone or terrential rain, which can trigger higher than normal vegetation growth. The abnormal growth of trees and plants can cause the increase and surge of the number of locust, which migrates across the Middle east and wreak much damage to the poorest by devasting crops, pasture, and fodders. Consequenly, nations along the south Afical shorline have been investing much efforts in passing regulations to interdict any economic development in hope of mimimizing devastating effect brought by locust.

However, in some extremes case, developing wilderness areas for economic gains does not bring any damage to the enviroment. Rather, it helps to contribute to the diversity of ecosystem. For instance, a South Korean company had invests an eco-friednly way to mine and use it in West Australia. In order to use this technology, the company first added some chemicals to the ground. Inadvertently, they found that the chemicals can effectively reduce the number of the dominating species which preys on other smaller animals and reduce the bio-diveristy. The development of the wilderness areas for economic gains does not greatly harm the enviroment. Instead, it partly increase the bio-diversity.

In conclusion, nations are responsible for passing regulations to preserve the wilderness areas with a view to preventing irreversibly detrimental effects and mitigating the extreme weather change. However, in some rare cases, instead of causing much harm to the enviroments, developing wilderness areas will help bio-diversity.