Article | Increasing Climate Change, Decreasing Wildlife | Dr (Ms) Sharad Singh | Central Chronicle

Article

Increasing Climate Change, Decreasing Wildlife

-    Dr (Ms) Sharad Singh

Writer, Author & Social Activist

Blogger - "Climate Diary Of Dr (Ms) Sharad Singh"

Whether we blame the deforested forests or the expanding cities, but the bitter truth is that due to our mistakes and carelessness, the climate is changing rapidly and the effect of this change has been on the wildlife. As climate change is increasing, wildlife is decreasing. Whose frightening figures are now coming in front of us. So the only option we have now is to improve the climate and save the wildlife, either now or never.

We have read stories

Of lions, bears and jackals

In our childhood,

We have seen them in city zoos.

Have seen many

In pictures of animals of gone extinct.

Isn't this biological contrast that-

On one hand our scientists

Want to bring again

Dinosaurs on this earth,

Where we have fail to protect

Existing Lions, Tigers, Leopards

And Blackbucks.

So how will be

Our future's wildlife

Empty with death

Or full of life?

It's not just my poetry but my distraction. Because climate change has emerged as a serious threat to the existence of various wild species, due to which many species of wild animals are declining in numbers and some have reached the verge of extinction. Climate change, however, can disrupt migration patterns of both birds and mammals and shrink vital habitat. Slow reproductive rates also make primates and elephants vulnerable to global warming. Climate change has produced a number of threats to wildlife. Rising temperatures lower many species survival rates due to changes that lead to less food, less successful reproduction, and interfering with the environment for native wildlife. The research, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, estimates that 47 percent of mammals and 23 percent of birds on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species have been negatively affected by climate change. A team of researchers from Australia, Italy and Britain went through 130 studies that documented a species that was affected or not by changes in climate. It was published between 1990 and 2015, meaning it is old data, but enough to warn for today.

Anthropogenic or natural conditions compel wildlife to attack humans. Whenever forests were in abundance, both humans and wildlife remained safe in their respective borders, but time changed and population also increased, then indiscriminate destruction of forests started. This resulted in a series of never-ending conflicts between humans and wildlife. Man has been exploiting forests to fulfill his many needs, due to which incidents of conflict between humans and wildlife are coming to the fore. Apart from this, climate change has also affected wildlife or it would not be wrong to say that climate change has the most impact on wildlife. Due to the impact of wildlife, their natural habitat is destroyed, due to which wildlife migrates to human settlements and this increases conflict between humans and wildlife. During the lockdown of the Corona period, a leopard was seen roaming fearlessly in the morning of a residential colony in Goregaon area of Mumbai. The leopard was roaming fearlessly near the parking area of the building. In fact, there are not many people on the roads in the early morning. In such a situation, the leopard was seen going very comfortably. This was not the only incident. Many such incidents keep coming to the fore when the dreaded wild animals enter human habitation. It is not common for leopards to roam around in human habitation. Wild animals like to stay away from humans. In fact, the reasons for the wild animals to move out of their area are also the same reasons which are causing rapid changes in the climate. It means major cutting of forests and shrinking of wildlife habitat. Due to not getting enough food and places to roam in their small area, wild animals start turning to human settlements. Where the environment is turbulent and polluted, makes them mentally aggressive. In this way, the change in the behavior of wild animals sometimes puts their lives in danger.

Like the rest of the world, the crisis on wild animals is deepening in India too. For example, to say that the desert region of Rajasthan has been dry for centuries, but now life is being affected badly due to floods here. Due to the floods, there are many such areas in the western areas, where there used to be a large number of blackbucks. Today those areas have become marshy due to floods. Due to this, black deer have started having trouble moving here and there. And many die trapped in these marshy areas. Not only this, earlier there used to be dry summers in these areas and today the situation is such that there is a lot of humidity in these areas. This season is not considered favorable for blackbucks. The decrease in the number of deer is a sufficient indication that due to climate change, there has been a rapid change in the environment here. According to the latest 2022 data of the Forest Department, compared to the 2002 Wildlife Census, their numbers in all five districts of western Rajasthan have not halved. Till two decades ago, 4,237 blackbucks were found here, but according to this year's census, only 2,346 deer are left in this area. Environmentalists say that climate change is a major reason for the decrease in the number of deer.

Therefore, when we have brought wild animals like cheetahs from abroad to groom our wildlife, at the same time we have to focus on removing the reasons due to which the climate is changing and the life of wildlife is getting endangered.

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 (30.10.2022)

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