See Brazil’s Big Cats Under Threat From Wind Farms: Jaguars and pumas face extinction in Brazil’s northeast as the fast-growing wind power industry frightens them off their land by Luciana Magalhaes and Samantha Pearson of The WSJ. Excerpts:
"Jaguars and pumas are facing extinction in the Caatinga, Brazil’s northeastern shrublands, as Europe and China pour investment into wind farms, puncturing the land with vast turbines that are scaring the animals away from the region’s scant water sources.
Particularly sensitive to changes to their habitat, the jaguars and pumas abandon their lairs as soon as construction work on the wind farms begins, said Claudia Bueno de Campos, a biologist who helped found the group Friends of the Jaguars and has tracked the region’s vanishing feline population. They then roam vast distances across the dusty plains in search of new streams and rivers.
The weakest perish along the way. Others venture closer to villages, where locals have started laying traps to protect their small herds of goats and sheep, often their only form of survival in this impoverished region.
The wind power industry has doubled its capacity in Brazil since 2018, setting the country up to be the world’s fourth-biggest producer by 2027"
"But by helping to solve one problem—climate change—the wind industry risks creating others, warn conservationists. Indigenous groups recently staged protests in Brazil over the installation of turbines on lands they say are rightfully theirs, while environmentalists have also raised concerns that wind farms installed on compacted sand dunes on the northern coast could have damaged underground water reservoirs."
"Since 2009, the number of jaguars in the Caatinga has fallen 40% while the number of pumas has dropped 20%."
"The disappearance of the felines would throw the region’s ecosystem out of whack, leading to a proliferation of animals that serve as prey"
Related posts:
Life is full of tradeoffs: More Renewable Diesel Might Mean Higher Food Prices (2023)
Life is full of tradeoffs: More wind power might mean more light pollution & noise (2023)
Tradeoffs and anti-trust policy (2019)
More Proof That Tradeoffs Are Everywhere: Blind People Don't Like The New, Quiet Hybrid Cars (2007)
The Recession Cleaned The Air, Another Example Of How Life Is Full Of Tradeoffs (2011)
Life is full of tradeoffs, the case of federal renters assistance (2021)
Tradeoffs: More Goods And Services Might Mean Less Clean Air (2013)
Life is full of tradeoffs, wind power vs. fishing edition (2022)
Life is full of tradeoffs, reducing animal cruelty vs. increasing worker safety (2022)
Life is full of tradeoffs: If we want more historic preservation we might have to give up some solar panels (2022)Life is full of tradeoffs: Adding geothermal power could hurt the environment (2022)
Life is full of tradeoffs: sustainability vs. competition edition (2022)
No comments:
Post a Comment