Defenders Magazine

Defenders View: Taking on Global Warming

by Rodger Schlickeisen

© Jim Clark

Every day, it seems, we open the paper and read new stories about the impacts of global warming on people, wildlife, parks and refuges. The polar ice caps are melting at rates unprecedented since records have been kept, raising the specter of coastal flooding that could impact millions of people around the world. Warming temperatures in the Arctic are threatening iconic species such as polar bears, caribou and walruses, as well as lesser-known but no less important creatures such as ivory gulls and Arctic cod. 

The impact of global warming on key animals in the Arctic, outlined in a recent series of reports by Defenders’ scientists titled “Navigating the Arctic Meltdown,” is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Recently the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—a group of esteemed experts from around the globe convened by the United Nations—concluded that, if global warming continues at currently predicted rates, as many as 30 percent of the world’s known species could go extinct.

Imagine your next trip to watch birds, photograph wildlife, camp, hike, hunt or fish. Now think what it would be like if three out of every 10 species that you would normally see are gone forever. And think of what that would do to the web of life and the welfare of all living things. None of us should want to leave such a legacy to our children and grandchildren.

Fortunately, the tide may be turning. In July, the U.S. House of Representatives at last approved a major piece of reform energy legislation—and included was the Global Warming Wildlife Survival Act. This act was promoted by two of the leading conservationists in Congress, Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), chairman of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. I am proud to note that Defenders staff worked closely with these two champions to develop this landmark legislation.

The Global Warming Wildlife Survival Act requires the federal government, in collaboration with states, tribes and private organizations, to develop a national strategy to address the impacts of global warming on wildlife. Second, the bill establishes a national science center within the U.S. Geological Survey to direct new research on the impacts of global warming on wildlife. Third, it authorizes significant new funding for federal agencies, the states and tribes to implement the national strategy to save wildlife.

The new national strategy should include protection of lands that will link important existing conservation reserves so that wildlife can move across changing habitats, and to new habitats, in response to global warming. It should provide for restoration of degraded habitats to create buffers against habitat harmed by global warming. It should also emphasize reduction of other threats to wildlife, such as habitat destruction, pollution, invasive species, disease and overexploitation, so that wildlife populations may be more resilient in the face of global warming’s destruction.  

Establishing the national science center will help ensure that government agencies have the benefit of the best scientific research possible. As new horror stories about the Bush administration’s political interference with scientific integrity in the federal government continue to come to light, restoring scientific capacity and integrity becomes even more important.

Authorizing significant new funding to implement the national strategy is potentially the act’s most important provision. If just 10 percent of the revenues the federal government would receive from the auction of global warming pollution credits in a cap-and-trade system are dedicated to this cause, there could be several billion dollars available each year to assist wildlife survival…and we’ll need every dollar of it.

Attention now turns to the U.S. Senate where, in the coming months, Defenders will continue to work to ensure that global warming or energy legislation adopted by that body includes wildlife conservation provisions similar to the House bill. With ever-growing public demand to address global warming, I am hopeful that legislation assisting wildlife to adapt to the effects of global warming will become law…if not during this administration, then surely the next. Rest assured that with your help, Defenders of Wildlife is determined to turn this hope into reality.

Learn more about what Defenders' is doing with regard to Global Warming.