Kenya plans a national wildlife climate change adaptation strategy

Henry Neondo in Africa Science News:  Kenya has started the process of developing the country’s first ever National Wildlife Climate Change Adaption Strategy. The process is spearheaded by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in conjunction with the Kenya Climate Change Working Group (KCCWG) and other stakeholders.

The strategy is aimed at inspiring and enabling wildlife resource managers and other decision makers to take the much-needed actions in order to adapt to the changing climate and preserve the precious wildlife resource for posterity. Such adaptation actions are fundamental towards sustaining Kenya’s ecosystems and wildlife resources as well as the livelihoods and values that the wildlife provides.

Speaking while opening the National Wildlife Climate Change Adaptation Strategy Inception workshop in Nanyuki, the KWS Deputy Director in charge of Biodiversity, Research and Monitoring Dr. Samuel Kasiki said apart from poaching, climate change is another silent threat to Kenya’s wildlife.

The workshop, which brought together wildlife and tourism stakeholders, university scholars, conservation scientists and key policy makers from across the country discussed the impacts of climate change to the country’s wildlife and the various ways of mitigating the adverse effects brought about by them.

In emphasizing the importance of the Strategy, the KWS Assistant Director for Ecosystems Conservation and Management Dr. Erustus Kanga, pointed out that over the years, Kenya has suffered greatly from the effects of climate change, These include loss of wildlife as a result of prolonged drought, increased cases of human wildlife conflict due to change in wildlife migratory patterns and change in home ranges, increased wildfires and invasive species as well as extreme weather patterns and events that have negatively impacted on the country’s infrastructure...

A lion in Kenya, shot by Paul Mannix, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license 

Wildlife soars in Uganda

Samuel Nabwiiso in AllAfrica.com via East African Business Week (Kampala): The number of animals in Uganda's national parks and game reserves has soared over the past decade, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has said.

Latest figures show that the population of some species has doubled since 1999, spokesperson Lillian Nsubuga said. "Wildlife has benefited from improved monitoring and the expulsion of rebels from the countr. This led to the animals population rise, especially for buffalos, giraffes and elephants," she said in a statement.

New statistics show that the population with the biggest increase is that of the Impala, a grazing antelope. The number of Impala in Uganda has surged to more than 35,000, from around 1,600 at the time of the last census in 1999....

A jumping impala, shot by Charlesjsharp, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Can a national strategy help wildlife adapt to climate change?

Alicia Graef in Care2: ... Experts are worried about how the natural world will continue to adapt and how we will feel the effects of those changes and, as common sense would dictate, they believe we need to start taking steps now to safeguard the natural resources that communities, economies and wild animals rely on.

In response to a call in 2010 from Congress for a nationwide conservation plan, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the New York Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources, along with a diverse team of state and tribal experts, put their collective expertise together and gathered input from non-profits, resource managers and 55,000 Americans to create The National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy.

...“The health and vitality of our nation’s natural resources are important components of our overall social and economic welfare,” said Eric Schwaab, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries at NOAA. “As resource trustees, we have an obligation to understand, consider and minimize all the potential impacts, including those from climate change. This new strategy will help us meet those challenges and empower current and future generations to be better stewards of our priceless resources and cherished landscapes amidst a rapidly changing world.”

The Strategy points out that most of the current laws, policies and regulations we have in place weren’t developed with the understanding we now have of climate change and how it impacts the environment and wildlife.

The authors hope to see a coordinated effort from policy makers, natural resource managers, private land owners and the public in seven key areas: increasing conservation efforts, updating approaches to species and habitat management, updating conservation laws and policies, supporting coordinated management efforts, improving information sharing, increasing public awareness and involvement and reducing non-climate stressors that are hurting plants and wildlife, such as pollution, illegal trade, invasive species and disease....

An elk herd in Yellowstone National Park, shot by Anayst, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

UK sea protection plans 'floundering'

The Guardian (UK): The government is letting moves to create a network of areas that protect the UK's seas and their wildlife "flounder", MPs have warned. Ministers should not stall on creating marine conservation zones in UK waters because they are afraid of judicial review by those opposed to the project, the cross-party science and technology committee said.

Some 127 marine conservation zones have been proposed, but the environment department has consulted on designating just 31 sites without setting out how they would be implemented or managed, the MPs said. And they warned that the government appears to have shifted the goalposts to increase the amount of scientific evidence needed to support the designation of the protected areas.

Instead of requiring the best available scientific evidence to select sites which would protect important habitats and wildlife, as the selection process neared completion, the government said it needs robust, or the best, evidence possible regardless of the feasibility of such a demand, the MPs said.

It has been more than three years since the Marine and Coastal Access Act was passed to pave the way for the creation of marine conservation zones, with strong cross-party and public support, a report by the committee said. But as a result of delays in the designation process, sensitive environments have been further degraded and industries such as fishing have been subject to further uncertainty...

Avon estuary near Milburn Orchard, shot by Derek Harper, Wikimedia Commons via Geograph UK, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Federal plan aims to help wildlife adapt to climate change

Neela Banerjee in the Los Angeles Times: The Obama administration Tuesday announced a nationwide plan to help wildlife adapt to threats from climate change. Developed along with state and tribal authorities, the strategy seeks to preserve species as global warming alters their historical habitats and, in many cases, forces them to migrate across state and tribal borders.

Over the next five years, the plan establishes priorities for what will probably be a decades-long effort. One key proposal is to create wildlife "corridors" that would let animals and plants move to new habitats. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Daniel M. Ashe said such routes could be made through easements and could total "much more than 1 million acres." The plan does not provide an estimate of the cost.

The effects of climate change are already apparent, the plan notes. Oyster larvae are struggling off the Northwest coast. In the Atlantic, fish are migrating north and into deeper waters. Geese and ducks do not fly as far south. In the West, bark beetles destroy pines because winters are not cold enough to kill infestations.

The plan, called the National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy, does not prioritize species to target, although "the polar bear is the poster child" of wildlife threatened by global warming, Ashe said....

A bald eagle, US Fish and Wildlife Service

Climate change affecting Uganda's wildlife, reserves

Paul Tentena in AllAfrica.com via East African Business: Wildlife managers and the Uganda Wildlife Authority have dismissed reports that poor management of national parks and game reserves is leading to the dwindling number of wild animals especially ostriches, lions and zebras in Uganda.

The authority said in Kampala that due to climate changes where animal breeding grounds have been tampered with, population pressure on wildlife reserves by the growing number of people is leading to low reproduction of animals hence the decline in animal figures.

Mr. Andrew Sseguya, the executive director of the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) told reporters that whereas his body acknowledges that the Office of the Auditor General carried out a value for money audit in 2011; the reports had errors on the exact situation of wildlife populations in Uganda's national parks.

"The decline in some wildlife in some protected areas is a result of many factors both anthropogenic and environmental as a result of climate change," said Sseguya. "It should therefore not be entirely attributed to the weakness in management as climate change is a global reality and has affected almost all countries," he stressed adding that "Worth noting as well is that as the human population continues to grow, the number of wildlife worldwide continues to reduce due to habitat loss and other pressures exerted by increasing human population."...

Is bioenergy expansion harmful to wildlife?

AlphaGalileo via Wiley-Blackwell: Despite the predicted environmental benefits of biofuels, converting land to grow bioenergy crops may harm native wildlife. Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig have developed a way to study the effects of increased energy crop cultivation on farmland bird populations.

“The Skylark is an indicator species for agricultural areas because it occupies many habitats of the wider countryside around the globe, breeds on the ground within fields and feeds mostly on insects” notes lead researcher, Jan Engel. “Improving the habitat suitability for Skylark, accordingly, would improve conservation of natural vegetation, insects, and other ground breeding farmland bird species.”

Mr. Engel and his colleagues developed a computer model that evaluated the habitat requirements of Skylark in a variety of bioenergy cultivation scenarios. The study, published in Global Change Biology Bioenergy, found that bioenergy crop expansion will not harm Skylark populations if field sizes are low, many crop types are present, and small natural areas, known as Integrated Biodiversity Areas, are included within the landscape.

“In ecology it is a widely accepted idea that abundance and occurrence of particular species can broadly indicate the condition of the respective ecosystem” says Engel. The recent Skylark population decline illustrates the endangerment of farmland ecosystems. “However, we could show that bioenergy cultivation can get harmonized with Skylark conservation by application of regionally adapted actions.”

Walter Heubach's rendering of a skylark

Alaska acknowledges climate change effects

Dan Joling in the Anchorage Daily Press via AP: Alaska's fish and wildlife managers have released a state plan anticipating effects on Arctic bodies of waters, fishing industries and wildlife resources brought on by climate change. The state is suing to overturn the federal listing of polar bears as a threatened species because of declining sea ice habitat, but the 19-page report released this week begins by acknowledging that scientific and traditional evidence increasingly shows climate changing at unprecedented rates throughout the Arctic.

"We have to take a look at what could possibly occur," said Doug Vincent-Lang, endangered species coordinator for the Department of Fish and Game. The report, called "Climate Change Strategy," noted warming temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, altered stream flows, loss of sea ice, increased wildfire patterns, thawing permafrost and coastal erosion.

Warming and precipitation changes were expected to affect freshwater quantity and quality throughout Alaska and likely will affect wetlands, rivers and lakes, especially shallow lakes maintained by permafrost, the report said.

The report anticipated that access by anglers to water bodies may change, as could subsistence opportunities. Distribution of fish may be altered, with a shift to species tolerant of warmer waters, it said. Changes in fire patterns will hurt some terrestrial species and help others, the report said. For example, moose could benefit in some areas that experience more fires, whereas woodpeckers or other species dependent on old-growth forest could suffer. Distribution of seal species could change as a result of altered sea ice conditions, the report said. Ocean acidification has the potential to alter the marine food web, affecting commercially targeted fish.

The report is an outgrowth of an effort launched by former Gov. Sarah Palin, who formed a climate change task force to prepare a climate change strategy for Alaska….

Fur Seal, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, shot by Vernon Byrd of the US Fish and Wildlife Service

Russia's hungry bears dig up graves for food

Associated Press: Famished bears in northern Russia have resorted to digging up graves in cemeteries - and reportedly eating at least one body - after a scorching summer destroyed their natural food sources of forest berries and mushrooms, officials said Thursday. The brown bears' grisly habit is forcing locals in the Arctic Circle region of Komi to mount 24-hour patrols, protecting their families and livestock with the concern that the bears might get a taste for fresher human flesh, said Pyotr Lobanov, a regional spokesman for the Emergencies Ministry.

Last summer was Russia's hottest on record, with raging forest fires and droughts wiping out woodland and crops, forcing the bears to forage closer and closer to human settlements as the winter hibernation period approaches. A top-selling daily newspaper, Moskovsky Komsomolets, reported that one body was devoured in the village of Verkhnyaya Chova over the weekend. Two visitors to the cemetery shrieked at the shocking sight of the animal tearing into half-decomposed flesh, scaring the bear away, the paper reported.

Domestic pets, goats and cattle have all fallen prey to the bears since the summer, prompting unsightly fences to go up around farmland and more thoughtful disposal of garbage. And the signs are that locals are right to be more diligent: A man in his 20s barely escaped with his life when he was mauled by an aggressive bear in early September on the fringes of the regional capital city, Syktyvkar, the main local news channel reported….

Sleeping Russian bear, shot by Julie R, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Spill could devastate US Gulf Coast oyster reefs

Steve Gorman in Reuters: The lowly oyster, a tasty delicacy to seafood lovers but a curiosity to more squeamish diners, is also the backbone of marine life along the U.S. Gulf Coast and among the most vulnerable creatures now threatened by a giant oil spill. The region's oyster beds are the vital foundation of a commercial and recreational fishing industry -- including shrimp, crabs and other shellfish -- that generates $6.5 billion in annual revenues, according to one recent estimate.

The networks of reefs built up in shallow waters by these unassuming bivalves are like the Gulf of Mexico equivalent of the Caribbean's coral reef system, only with oysters at the base of the pyramid instead of live coral. In addition to providing shelter and food for a complex web of undersea species, the way coral reefs do, oyster beds serve a number of other important functions by virtue of their proximity to land.

…Oyster beds form undersea breakwaters that buffer shorelines and wetlands from erosion due to storm surge, helping preserve a habitat for birds and land animals. At low tide, exposed oyster banks themselves offer a feeding ground for some birds.

And as filter feeders, oysters constantly strain the water of impurities for the estuaries, bays and marshlands that lie behind them, a characteristic that also makes the oyster reef particularly sensitive to contamination….

Oysters, shot by Daniel Schwen, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Cold weather kills off Florida wildlife

Suzanne Goldenberg in the Guardian (UK): Comatose iguanas have been dropping from the trees and pythons have frozen to death in their tracks in Florida's unusually harsh winter, wildlife officials said today. Parts of the Sunshine State saw their second snowfall of the season this weekend, with the extended cold spells killing off a host of tropical intruders, including iguanas, Burmese and African pythons and invasive fish.

State wildlife officials said more than half of the green iguanas, which are native to South America, could have been killed off. "The iguanas up in the trees just got so cold, they kind of went very, very sluggish, and just fell down," said Jenny Tinnell, a biologist with Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Residents of south Florida, who have discovered the animals on their patios, have tried to warm them back to life. Local newspapers, meanwhile, have been warning homeowners not to let their dogs gnaw on iguana corpses, which may be poisonous….

Iguana iguana seen in Fern Forest, Florida. This lizard was seen in the wild altough it is not a native species in the area. Shot by Korali, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license