Global warming threat growing

The Wildlife Society, Bethesda, Md., has adopted a policy calling for the reduction of greenhouse gas pollution among the measures needed to confront global climate change. The group's action follows on its recently released scientific review documenting the already known and likely impacts of climate change on wildlife.

The Society is comprised of 9,000 wildlife biologists, researchers, and managers. Its assessment, "Global Climate Change and Wildlife in North America," concludes that the geographic ranges of plant communities and wildlife species in North America likely will move northward (or upward, for mountain species) as temperatures increase. "The critical issue is no longer 'if' climate change is occurring, but rather how to address its effects on wildlife and wildlife habitats," states Larry Schweiger, president and Chief Executive Officer of the National Wildlife Federation. "The evidence is accumulating that wildlife and wildlife habitats have been, and will continue to be, significantly affected by ongoing large-scale rapid climate change.

"We can't fight this battle alone, and it is critical that everyone involved in wildlife protection and management understands the urgency of the issue.... Our children are counting on all of us to take steps today that cut global warming pollution and conserve critical habitat in order to protect the wildlife inheritance that is rightly theirs."

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