Farmers in South Africa’s Karoo region fear a new method to extract natural gas could devastate their environment in the face of a desperate need for alternative energy supplies to fuel its growing economy.
Fracking, as the process of hydraulic fracturing is better known, involves drilling vertically into the ground, and then horizontally, as small explosions pierce the shale rock. Water, sand and chemicals are then forced into the rock to release the trapped gas.
Fracking is controversial everywhere, and locals in Karoo are concerned about what impact that is going to have on the environment.
Oil companies insist, however, that drilling for gas in Africa’s largest economy will bring jobs and development – without destroying the environment.
Al Jazeera’s Haru Mutasa reports from the Karoo.