As many of you have heard, Audubon scientists have been working on a detailed scientific study which clearly illuminates the risk that climate change poses to North America’s birds. We already know climate change is a very serious threat to our birds; the results of this study will show which birds are most threatened by climate change and where.
The research results will be submitted to peer-review science journals over the first half of 2014. The scientific publishing process doesn’t always move quickly, so it’s hard to pin down the date just yet. Depending on the review process, publication could come as early as February, or it could be as late as June.
Numerous studies by the world’s top climate scientists and biologists indicate that climate change poses an extremely dire threat to birds and biodiversity--the greatest threat since humans have been on the planet, as David Yarnold said in his column this fall in Audubon magazine (www.audubonmagazine.org/articles/climate/audubon-view-0). Here are four links with more information:
- www.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/ecosystems.html#Extinction
- www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v3/n7/full/nclimate1887.html
- www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/may/13/animals-species-climate-change
- eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/83/1/thomascd1.pdf
In the first half of 2014, Audubon is submitting a paper for publication that quantifies the specific risk to North America’s birds in a greater level of detail and clarity than has been available so far; we’ll know which birds are most threated by climate change and where.
With that knowledge in hand, it’ll be our responsibility to figure out what to do about it--how to protect our birds today and tomorrow as climate changes. But then, we already know the basics: We’ve got to protect the habitats birds need, and we’ve got to do everything we can to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This new information about the threat climate change poses to birds will add urgency and clarity to our work in a way that few other things have before.
We are very excited about this report and the opportunities it offers to galvanize Audubon’s work around protecting birds and habitat from climate change.
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