Sea Level Rise hidden Impact on Biodiversity and Habitat Loss in Asia

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By IndyBay | 18 June 2012 | 373

A new scientific study published in Global Change Biology raises alarm bells about global climate change and the secondary impact of sea level rise on habitat loss and species biodiversity, especially in the Asian and Pacific regions. We already know that Climate change and habitat loss threaten biodiversity with the extinction rate underestimated and that Biodiversity is a crucial climate change buffer for ecosystem and cultural diversity. Scientists have warned that biodiversity is declining rapidly throughout the world, describing the loss of species as the 6th mass extinction event on the earth. Tropical insects may already be an extreme risk of extinction with just moderate increases in temperature. Now the secondary effects of sea level rise could also have a devastating impact on biodiversity.

With sea levels forecast to rise 1 to 2 metres this century, this will have a primary impact on coastal habitat and biodiversity. But as human populations also migrate to higher ground, there will be some substantial changes in land use resulting in impacts on habitat loss and biodiversity. In more populated regions the secondary impacts on habitat and species biodiversity may be equal to or larger than the primary impacts. Read More