The Implications of Global Oil Exploration for the Conservation of Terrestrial Wildlife

Global dependence upon fossil fuels persists in the 21st century. With known deposits of oil diminishing, technological advancements and alternative financing have facilitated explorations into a number of sensitive habitats around the world. Such pursuits challenge global priorities relating to the ideals of energy production versus those of biodiversity. Presently, the implications of oil extraction on terrestrial wildlife, for instance, are unclear, undermining the ability to meet this challenge. We synthesized the literature to quantify the range of documented impacts of oil extraction on wildlife and to identify prevailing knowledge gaps. Our review returned 33 studies documenting various effects of oil extraction, across the exploration, development, production, and abandonment phases, on wildlife. These studies tended to be biased towards North and South America, the development phase of oil extraction projects, and towards the impacts on mammals. Research has also been biased towards certain processes within these phases. We found that wildlife were generally negatively impacted by oil extraction through road development, seismic surveys, hydraulic fracturing, installation of oil wells, contamination, and other extraction disturbances. We discuss the implications of this biased knowledge base through considering oil extraction occurring in Murchison Falls Conservation Area, a highly-biodiverse region in Uganda. We note a particular research gap of understanding the role of oil extraction activities in generating direct human-wildlife conflict