Bleak future for many birds

Jim Robbins, reporting for the New York Times:

There are about 10,000 bird species globally and most of them live on land. Based on the middle range of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s projection of warming—3.5 degrees Celsius or 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100—534 to 800 tropical land bird species could become extinct, out of a total of 7,565 species. Worldwide, of all of the 8,500 or so land bird species, as many as 600 to 900 could disappear. And for each degree of climate warming above that, the experts say, another 100 to 500 birds might go extinct…

The loss of birds could be mitigated somewhat, the scientists write, by conducting more research into the subject, by restoring degraded habitat and by protecting more land.

Thanks to the support of readers like you, Per Square Mile remains independent and ad-free.

If you enjoy what you read, please consider supporting the site with a donation.


opening times