Just a week ahead of Biodiversity Day, 2300 birds died on Chilean coast on climate change

You would be surprised to know that this year theme of World Biodiversity Day is “Water and Biodiversity” that is actually set to coincide with the United Nations’ declaration of 2013 as the International Year of Water Cooperation. God knows better how much cooperation at the global level has been done so far to preserve water but a great tragedy has occurred just seven days ahead of World Biodiversity Day (22^nd May) in the waters of Chile.

Death of 2,300 birds

Nearly 2,300 birds of various species are found dead on May 16, 2013 on the Chilean coast and trapped in the fishing nets of fishermen. Thousands of birds migrate from the cold water of Chile during the month of May towards cold areas of Peru and other coastal regions of the south.

Simultaneously the weather of Peru gets warmer and its water also receives its impact and underwater species including fish migrate to North in little cold water. The tragedy occurs when migratory birds in Peru found nothing under water to eat and died because of starvation as most of the underwater species migrated to Chilean part of the sea.

Climate change a threat to biodiversity

Climate change is one of the major threats to biodiversity as birds have to migrate from cold weather areas to warmer regions but they don’t find the exact weather condition there just like they left behind at their native places. As a result they have to face crisis like situation like the one as above where migratory birds could not have found anything to eat because of the simultaneous migration by marine species to cooler water. This rate of death of birds may increase in future if variations in climate remain steep in nearby regions, experts said.

What is biodiversity?

In simpler terms biodiversity means variety of life. It is reflected by the number of species on Earth. There are nearly 1.3 million known species and from 10 to 30 million un-described species that scientists have to find on the Earth. Biodiversity maintains the natural balance of our ecosystem because variety of life makes it balanced and keeps it in its original position.

Extinction, the major threat to biodiversity

The major threat to biodiversity - apart from climate change - is extinction due to erratic development by human beings that wipes out the species under the Earth because of the construction of development projects on land. As a result the numbers of species on our land are decreasing and scientists fear if the rate of their extinction goes on with the same pace it is likely that the natural balance of our entire ecosystem may almost collapse and we have to see more natural disasters and other calamities. Pollution as a result of development activities is also another worst enemy of life on Earth and its control is must if we have to retain the range of biodiversity to keep this planet a better place to live.

World Biodiversity Day

On 22^nd May World Biodiversity Day is celebrated all over the world to remind the global fraternity that we must protect life of every type on this planet if we really have to keep it in balance. For this purpose at global and national levels awareness activities are conducted to make aware people on its significance. But this year all the green global fraternity would also be mourning the death of 2300 birds on Chilean coast because of the rapid climate change that is rising because of rising level of polluting activities in this world.