Australia to build 1,740-mile corridor for wildlife affected by climate change
State and federal leaders in Australia have agreed to create a 1,740-mile wildlife corridor spanning the east coast of the continent — in part to allow plants and animals to flee the effects of global warming. “The effects of climate change will likely be less severe in systems that have some resilience and that we haven’t gone in and buggered up,” says David Lindenmayer, a conservation biology professor at Australian National University. “A lot of that forest and vegetation spine is already there. But there are still blockages.” The project will link national parks, state forests, and government land, as well as private property conserved by landowners. The move comes amid a continuing spate of bad climate news for the drought-stricken land down under, including a recent study by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization that shows that waters off Australia’s southeast coast are warming faster than anywhere else in the southern hemisphere. Maybe they need a fish corridor too.
