Media Releases
Sea level rise menaces the world’s shorebirds
- Created on Sunday, 05 May 2013 23:15
May 2 2013 - for immediate release
Millions of shorebirds could be lost as sea levels rise in the coming decades, international environmental scientists have warned. World-first research predicts that a loss of 23 to 40 per cent of the birds' main feeding grounds could lead to a 70 per cent decline in their population. This places some of the world's shorebirds at greater risk as some areas have already reported alarming population losses of 30-80 per cent.
"Each year, millions of shorebirds stop at coastal wetlands to rest and feed as they migrate from Russia and Alaska to the coasts of Southeast Asia and Australasia," says Dr Richard Fuller of the National Environmental Research Program's (NERP) Environmental Decisions Hub and the University of Queensland (UQ).