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Komodo dragons are the largest lizard that survives. Unfortunately, as they are found only on a series of islands amongst the Indonesia archipelago, sea level rise can quickly rob them of prime habitat.
As a result of this, they have been moved from vulnerable to endangered.
At the beginning of the year, a census showed that the population of wolves in Norway was about 81. This (you would think) is a population way to small to need a cull. Indeed at this population, you would think that even for trophy hunting, if you hope to be able to sell hunting permits again should be kept to single digits. In the Sierra de culebra is a hunting reserve: this reserve hosts around 80 wolves, and they allow at most 10 wolves to be hunted each year.
Norway announced that it would allow 51 wolves to be shot – about 60% of the population. This is totally insane, and indeed, they were taken to court. What is more ridiculous, is that the wolves live within the “wolf zone” an area of nature set aside to protect the predators. In virtually every country in the world, the idea of killing animals in an area set aside for their survival seems counter-intuitive. This zone makes up 5% of the country.
The appeal was rejected, and over the weekend hunts went on. A total of 9 wolves were shot.
This is foolish for Norway’s global reputation, as well as being foolish in terms of managing the local ecosystem. Furthermore, while a small level of culling may be required to control predation of livestock, Norway is likely to be able to make a great deal of money from wolf tourism – many people visit the country to see the wonderful scenery, and the return of the wolf could have increased these wild tourism numbers
Unfortunately all three Nordic countries have similar plans, with Finland suspending plans to kill 3 packs of wolves just last month – citing European legislation.
Sweden has shot most of their annual quota of 27 wolves (this is the country in which I had the best view of a wolf, by chance while sitting in a bear hide).
Pressure on the Nordic nations should be brought to bare, to halt this unnecessary slaughter from being repeated
Deforestation is rarely good for local communities. Having lived on the land often for hundreds or thousands of years, the deforested land is usually sold off. Furthermore it can no longer be used as a resource for food gathering – and often without the forest the rains are less reliable so local farm crops fail.
It is thought that as much as 70 million hectares could be lost if this goes through. This is 270,000 square miles an area the size of Morocco lost.
Even with the moratorium in place three logging leases have been given to Chinese companies.
What makes this threat even greater, is that some of this area that would be deforested lies in the peatland areas, which could mean the end of the peatlands and the release of billions of tonnes of carbon (these peatlands are thought to contain 30 billion tonnes of carbon
A total of 8591 square km of rainforest was lost last year (3317 square miles). Joined with changes that Jair Bolsonaro has made which make it easier for squatters to take ownership of the forest, if he wins a second term we are likely to see damage to the Amazon that it may never recover from.
Indonesia is a archipelago of islands. Once connected to the Asian mainland, animals were able to make their way along the peninsular. When sea levels rose in the ancient past they were marooned on the islands.
Once they were found on a few islands including Bali and Java. They are now only found Sumatra. Sumatra is thought to have 400 tigers in 2010. This is down from as many as 1000 back in 1978.
San diago zoo estimate the number remaining in the wild at 400-600, but I cannot find any reason for this higher band.
It is possible that the tiger population has increased a bit, but in certainly has not doubled.
As with many of the other countries on this list, precise population numbers do not seem to be available. What is clear is that in 2010 the tiger population was thought to be in excess of 100. Their current population is around 177 ( the population grew by 50% over the last 2 years).
Rapid growth of the population appears to be possible thanks to an improvement in their habitats health.
According to Xi Jinping, low-carbon ambitions must not interfere with modern day life! If this is true, then we are unlikely to get the cuts that we need.
Now, it is not unreasonable for a country to want to raise its standard of living. However, China is likely to be hit very hard by climate change. While you do not think of China as a low lying country like Bangladesh, 67,000 square km (about 26,000 square miles) lie 1m or less above sea level – and 67 million people live in this area. It is true that this only accounts for about 5% of Chinas population but given how crowded this country already is, this is likely to cause a lot of issues. More to the point Shanghai is only between 3m and 5m above sea level,
Around the world about 600 million people live close to the sea. Of course we understand that each country must look after its own citizens – but that includes protecting them from global warming. China currently accounts for 26% of global emissions, and the rest of the world cannot cut enough to make their emissions irrelevant.
Now, it is entirely true that the president may be trying to keep his own population on side, but we need the whole world to work on this problem. China accounts for 15% of the worlds GDP, then can not take a back seat.
For many years there has been concern about what will happen to the various ocean currents, as the earth and the oceans warm. One of the currents that has the biggest positive effect is the Gulf stream – and scientists warn that the loss of this current could have devastating effects on the world and must not be allowed to happen.
Unfortunately, we are not changing our habits very much at all, and certainly not fast enough.
Continue reading “Climate scientists have spotted warning signs of the Gulf stream collapse”Koalas are often listed as one of the most popular animals worldwide. Living only in Australia, most of us are not going to see them in their natural setting.
Increasingly it is looking like, no one will see them in their natural setting unless you are travelling to Australia soon.
A mix of droughts, heatwaves and bushfires have all contributed to deal this huge blow to this unique species.
There are now estimated to be just 58,000 wild koalas, down for 80,000 in 2018. Another problem occurs when developers clear land to build a property – which is continuing to occur in Koala habitat.
Earlier this year, Australia announced that it was considering listing the East coast koala as endangered. With a precipitous fall in population like this, it seems odd that there is any decision to be made – of course the Koala is endangered, and if the government is considering listing a particular subspecies as endangered it must be very bad.
Estimates as high as 1 billion are quoted for the number of animals killed in the fires.
The signs of collapse are getting more and more clear. Fires droughts and land clearances are all pushing the Amazon towards collapse. Yet Jair Bolsonaro is not interested having put his head in the sand. Instead he is busy placating powerful agribusiness lobby and trying to get the global economy to reward his bad behaviour.
The blows to forest protection have come fast in the last year. It is unclear how much of the Brazilian population understands how big the threat is that Bolsonaro is ignoring.
Continue reading “Academics fear that if Bolsonaro is re-elected in October, the Amazon rainforest will collapse during his second term”