Factoid

700: Species will lose habitat to warming by 2070, claims a new study. According to researchers, in another 50 years, high emissions could push most of the habitats— 35% of mammals and 29% of birds outside the spaces they live in now, and into different countries. Political boundaries, thanks to fortified international borders, would, however, make it difficult for them to move into new space, they warn...

The Impact

1. According to experts, who mapped the impact of 32,000km fortified international borders on wildlife, three political barriers pose the biggest conservation challenges — along US-Mexico, India-Myanmar and China-Russia.
2. For the India-Myanmar border, experts estimate that 128 species of non-flying mammals could be unable to cross, if barriers were completed along much of its length.
3. The endangered Indian pangolin, banteng, large-spotted civet, and the sloth bear, may be the most-affected, they said.
4. Poorer countries, with lower CO2 emissions, could face greater losses.
5. Areas, where mammals are most-likely to have to move and find new homes, are in the US-Mexico border, western Amazonia, the Andes, central and eastern Africa, the Himalayan region, and the China–Russia border. For birds, western Amazonia was found to be most vulnerable.
6. According to experts, border fencing is yet another problematic area from a conservation point of view. Political barriers would mean species would be facing different kinds of threats on either side of a border, “especially in the areas of conflict,” they added.

The Solution

: Apart from tackling the greenhouse gas emissions, expanding trans-boundary conservation initiatives, and reducing the impacts of border barriers on species will be really important, experts said