Wildlife will need new places to go if temperatures rise significantly because of climate change.
Droughts, winds and floods will all alter habitats so much that species, including many birds, will be forced to move to find new land on which to feed and breed.
We warned of this last year when we announced our hopes of transforming a large part of Wallasea Island in Essex into a nature reserve. In January, the Climatic Atlas of European Breeding Birds predicted that many could be forced to relocate more than 400 miles north-east because of climate change. Now, the conservation group WWF, is saying the same of Australia.
WWF’s report, featured in the Independent, warns that only 11 per cent of Australia is protected yet, that habitats will become uninhabitable for some species if temperatures rise by as little as 0.5C. WWF Australia says that even if greenhouse gas emissions were cut to zero overnight, temperatures would still increase by 0.4C by 2050.
Lapwings and redshank have been struggling for some time in south-east England because dry summers have left the wetlands they use for raising chicks parched. Numbers of these birds in the region have dropped significantly as a result.
In the uplands, the ring ouzel and golden plover are, respectively, being affected by drier earth and the earlier hatching of insect prey. There could be impacts on migrating birds like pied flycatchers too. Arriving back to breed at the same time each spring could become too late to catch the insect glut the chicks of these birds need to survive.
In a report last year, the RSPB warned that without improvements to existing habitats and the creation of new areas into which wildlife could move, some species might not survive.
Even less land in the UK – just four per cent – is primarily managed for nature conservation and we think this figure should be increased to 20 per cent if we are not to lose some of our wildlife.
If the Wallasea proposals bear fruit, the transformation of this east coast farmland into a tidal wetland will be magical. But more than that, it will set a blazing example to the government of just how large areas, in this case land threatened by rising sea levels, can be put to good use benefiting people as well as wildlife.
WWF Australia says that many animals will have no place left to go if emissions continue to rise and land is altered too much. This is true and is true the world over. The RSPB is trying to tackle that in a relatively small part of Essex. The UK government and other governments must tackle it in much larger parts of the territories they claim to oversee.
Read more about plans for Wallasea Island here
And about the RSPB report, Climate change, wildlife and adaptation, here
There is more on the Climatic Atlas here
And the Independent’s feature is here