Global warming and wildlife

Rising global temperatures are increasingly threatening both humans and wildlife. Forest fires, which formerly occurred mostly in certain places like California in the US, are now occurring in Turkey, Greece and other countries of southern Europe with increasing frequency and intensity resulting in heatwaves and parched lands. Nature conservationists are concerned that the recent fires in Turkey and Greece have killed many animals and others are struggling to survive as droughts have badly affected their habitats. The blazes have caused large-scale destruction of their natural habitats and disrupted life. However, some animals thrive in heat and fire and some are tolerant of fire. Conservationists are of the opinion that at present their knowledge is limited to tell which fires benefit wildlife and which do not, due to the multiplicity of fires, nor is it possible to gauge the full impact of these fires.

According to the WWF, the recent fires in the forests and mountains of two provinces of Turkey have caused massive damage to habitats of wild goats and other species, which will disturb biodiversity harming all living beings. The environment has been severely harmed in the living spaces of around 208 species. This gives an idea of the extent of damage that the fires have caused. In recent years in many parts of Greece, the WWF has recorded a considerable number of disasters caused due to the impact of climate change, and the recent fires have done serious harm to vital environment systems and innumerable wild and domestic animals. In the Attica region, the habitats of protected and critically-endangered red deer and grey wolves have also been severely affected by the recent fires further threatening the existence of these two endangered species.

Now no one has been left in doubt about the reality that global warming has upset the climate patterns and it’s time to take remedial measures, the most important of all is to reduce exploitation of the Earth’s limited resources.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2021.

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