UK conservation ‘pointless’ without tackling African climate change
Lynn Morris
30th March, 2010
Conservation efforts towards protecting migrating bird habitats in Europe may be doomed to failure unless we tackle climate change and protect Africa’s coastlines
According to Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, ‘for good or ill, we live in an age of interdependence, and we must manage it collectively’. Nowhere is that observation more applicable than in dealing with climate change.
Lifestyles led by people in the developed world caused and continue to exacerbate climate change, the effects of which are felt globally.
Figures produced by the New Economics Foundation show that before the average UK citizen is six months old they will be responsible for the same carbon dioxide emissions as a Tanzanian generates in their entire lifetime.
Indeed, Africa as a whole is responsible for less than four percent of global carbon emissions. But it is developing nations that suffer first and are most vulnerable.
‘West Africa is obliged to respond to a situation we are not responsible for and that is a source of iniquity,’ says Professor Isabelle Niang, co-ordinator for UNESCO’s adaptation to climate and coastal change project in West Africa.
Banc d’Arguin
But it is not a one-way street, and climate change impacts in developing countries will also be felt in the developed world.
Mauritania’s Banc d’Arguin is an area of flat low-lying ground about the size of Gambia where the Sahara meets the Atlantic. Sea level rise already witnessed along this coastline will have dramatic effects on bird populations in Europe.
The Banc is a unique environment with particularly abundant marine life because of nutrient-rich water brought to the surface by a coastal upwelling. Every year the national park supports millions of migratory birds. For a third of these birds this is the final destination in their migration but for others it is merely a rest point.
‘It’s the most important crossroads for migratory shore birds in the whole Atlantic. They really need this staging point to refuel: without it they would not reach further south and they could not reach Europe,’ says Antonio Arujo of the Fondation Internationale du Banc d’Arguin.
Birds affected
But the ecology of the area is changing. The distribution of sea grass, which needs to be covered and uncovered by the tide twice a day, is affected by rising sea levels. In areas where eel grass used to grow the water now is too deep to support it.
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The sea grass beds are home to invertebrates – food for the birds. In addition, nesting sites on shrinking islands are repeatedly being washed out by the rising tides.
‘If the Banc d’Arguin can’t accomplish its functions as it is doing now whole populations of wading birds will probably disappear from the Palearctic,’ says Arujo.
‘There is no point England spending millions conserving the Wash if some of that money is not helping preserve the Banc d’Arguin. If the Banc disappears all the efforts made in the Wash will make no sense,’ he adds.
Migration decline
A fall in the UK’s bird population is already being noticed. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) noted a decrease in the numbers of birds that migrate between the UK and Africa.
Of 36 migrant species, for which it holds long term data, the RSPB found 21 have declined significantly. And studies show that pattern is being repeated across Europe.
Fishing problems
The waters off the Banc d’Arguin are the site of another struggle for survival – that of fish. Fishing is a hugely important industry for West Africa and its waters are plied not only by local fleets but those from the EU, China, Korea and many other countries.