Climate change affecting wildlife

Climate change could affect breeding, migration and disease transmission in migratory birds and animals, a report has warned.

The Defra-commissioned report, ‘Climate Change and Migratory Species’, found the birth rate in whales could be reduced, while a third of turtle nesting sites in the Caribbean could be lost because of rising seas.

The report also warned that all-female turtle populations could emerge, because the sex of turtle hatching was determined by water temperature.

Birds flying across the Sahara could also be affected by the spread of the desert.

Biodiversity Minister Jim Knight said the report was “sobering”. He said: "This report confirms that as well as continuing our efforts to address climate change, we also need to turn our energies to tackling its threats to our migratory species and helping them to adapt to a changed climate."

Mr Knight said that while climate change could benefit some animals, others could face extinction as a result.

Animals that inhabit arctic and mountain areas, such as polar bears, are under the greatest threat, because they are already at the limit of their available habitats and have nowhere to go as temperatures increase.

In contrast, birds like the chiffchaff, which normally migrate south for the winter, were now found to be living in Britain all year round.

Humphrey Crick, from the British Trust for Ornithology, one of the report’s authors, said that the report showed that the impacts are “really widespread”. He said: “There is some scope for helping species adapt to climate change, but we need to find global solutions to help animals that swim, fly and walk thousands of miles each year.”

Commenting on the report, Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson said: "We are fast approaching the crucial tipping point where, if we don't cut our greenhouse gas emissions, the effects will be irreversible. It is already too late for the many species which have died out as a result of mankind's remorseless exploitation of the planet."

The UK is due to table a resolution calling for more international research into climate change at the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species in Nairobi in November.

(KMcA/GB)