Australian
researchers say governments must step up and protect critical habitats to give
wildlife a chance
Thu 16
May 2019 00.00 BSTLast modified on Thu 16 May
2019 00.02 BST
More than
20 native animals would disappear from the Great Dividing Range before the end
of the century if global emissions continue at business as usual rates,
according to new analysis by Australian researchers.
The
University of Queensland and Australian Conservation Foundation study, published this
week in Global Ecology and Conservation, examines native fauna in a part of the
country that is home to three-quarters of the population and much of
Australia’s biodiversity.
The
scientists and policy experts used climate models from the UN’s
intergovernmental panel on climate change to assess how many endemic species
could face extinction in the Great Dividing Range due to warming temperatures.
They
examined 1,062 native species, and found 26 would go extinct by 2085 if the
currently high global emissions trajectory continues. In that scenario, they
assumed global warming of 3.7C by 2085.
Of the 26
species the researchers said would not survive, 11 are found only in the Great
Dividing Range and nowhere else on earth.
Under a
lower emissions pathway of 1.8C the Great Dividing Range would become
climatically unsuitable for 16 species by 2085, including the 11 endemic
species.
“The way
emissions are tracking, we will lose a raft of species found nowhere else in
the world, including the blue-winged parrot, Mount Claro rock wallaby,
magnificent brood frog and painted spadefoot toad,” the study’s lead author,
Sean Maxwell, said.
Another
author, James Watson, said: “The fact is that there are 11 endemic species,
which based off of this research, it appears they will be blasted off the face
of the earth because there’s nowhere suitable for them to live.”
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