Short Wave - The U.N.'s First-Ever Analysis Of World's Migratory Species Just Dropped

Episode Date: February 16, 2024

Every year, billions of animals across the globe embark on journeys. They fly, crawl, walk or slither – often across thousands of miles of land or water – to find better food, more agreeable weather or a place to breed. Think monarch butterflies, penguins, wild Pacific salmon. These species are crucial to the world as we know it. But until this week, there has never been an official assessment of the world's migratory animals. So today on the show, correspondent Nate Rott shares the first-ever report on state of the world's migratory animals – the threats facing them and what can be done to help. Are you afraid of needles or shots? Send us a voice memo with your story at [e-mail]. We'd love to hear about it for an upcoming episode. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Shortwavers. Hi, Nathan Rott here. I'm a climate correspondent at NPR and I'm filling in for the illustrious Regina Barber. Every year, billions of different animals embark on journeys. They fly, crawl, walk, swim, slither, heck, probably even squirm, often moving with the season to find better food, more agreeable weather, or places to breed. These are not just any species. These are magnificent species that take unbelievable journeys in some cases. Thousands of miles at times, in flocks and herds and schools, sometimes alone.

You know, the stuff of poetry and song and cultural significance. Amy Frankel is the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species. So, yes, I'm excited about migratory species, and I think most people are, even if they don't realize, they're migratory species. Think monarch butterflies, waddling penguins, the wild Pacific salmon that we all love to eat. They need to move to be able to survive. They have different places they have to go to and are not adapted to staying in one place. But their movements don't just benefit them. Butterflies pollinate plants. Penguins move nutrients from ice to sea. Salmon feed really fat bears that we all like to watch on YouTube. Okay, that I really like to watch on YouTube. Anyway, the point is migratory species aren't just cool.

They're really important to the world, as we all know, and generally enjoy it. And yet, we had never done this kind of an assessment to understand the status of our species. What are the trends? How are they doing? Notice how she said had never done? That's because this week it changed. The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species, the Convention that Amy Heads published the first ever assessment of the world's migrators, a state of the world's migratory animals. And sadly, it probably won't come as a shock to hear.

Many of them aren't doing great. 44% of the species listed under our treaty are in decline. One in five of the species they looked at is threatened with extinction. And 97% of the fish species. It's a pretty stark set of statistics that we're seeing. And one that Amy hopes, will inspire action, not just from international governments and conventions, but from people like you. So today on the show, we look at some of the threats facing migrating animals and what can be done to help them.

I'm Nate Rott. You're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR. Can I admit something to you? Yes. Okay. So I helped cover COP 28, like the big, you know, the climate cop. I was at COP 27 in Charmel Shake. I'm familiar with the biodiversity cop. I had no idea that there was a convention specifically focused on the conservation of migratory species. So I'm curious, like, how did migratory species get their own treaty? So this goes back to in 1972.

There was a major meeting in Stockholm. It was the first ever meeting of the UN on the environment. The environment was not a big topic at that time. the environmental movement in the U.S. was really in its youth. And the government of Sweden was experiencing concerns, including acid rain, was a big issue at the time. And the UN agreed to have a major meeting there. So one of the major outcomes of that meeting was a number of treaties were called for, because the focus was what issues really merit international cooperation when we talk about environment.

So one could be air pollution, but another was species. And in this case, the focus was on species that cross national borders. One country alone can't do it. You need cross-country kind of cooperation. And it also gets to the point that if countries don't have the same level of protection or standards, regulation for that same species, then you're going to have a patchwork of different legal obligations across its range, its migratory range. So that makes me wonder, I mean, like, are migratory species more vulnerable in some ways than like their home body?

Just I'm going to hang out in the same habitat, same place all the time species? There is a lot of evidence that migratory species are likely subject to more threats. And I can give a few examples. So the first issue is, are they equally protective wherever they go? And the answer is no. Because they cross national borders, they will have different levels of protection and enforcement. across their range. The second issue is the kinds of obstacles that they'll face as they migrate. And there's many examples of this. We know that whales off the coast of both coasts of the U.S.

and many countries, they often take long journeys to go from their breeding to their feeding grounds. And on the way, they might encounter ships. There's lots of ship strikes of whales. That's a major source of mortality. Another source is fishing gear, fix fishing gear, particular. The other phenomenon too is that some migrations are very predictable. And so for some bird species, for example, you can predict when they're coming to a certain spot and there'll be bottlenecks. And that means that if there are poachers that say illegal hunting activities, that it's pretty easy to know where to go. So for all of those reasons, migratory species can be more susceptible to threats than resident species.

And I know, like, I saw that climate change was mentioned is one of the threats, but I would assume, like, spring might come sooner in, like, the high mountain ranges of some places. Does that mess with the migrations of some of these species you're describing? Yeah, no, absolutely. So, in fact, we also just released a report at the climate cop in Dubai. So COP 28, we had a launch of a report on CMS migratory species and climate change. And, in fact, the first thing it found was that some of the impacts that we had only, predicted some years ago when we last did this kind of report are now with us. There are a number of different kinds of effects that we're seeing from climate change. The first can be sort of called

direct effects. So if you imagine wildfires, drought, that's going to affect the habitat of where these species need to live. Right. Easy to get your head around. Exactly. But what you were mentioning also is about the timing. And this is, it's called phonology. There's a technical term for the timing of migrations and the matching that you need to see of birds, let's say, when they move or whales, they have historical patterns of going to places where they know that they'll be food. And they need that food often to keep going. And so there's real issues if they go where they normally found food and the food is no longer there because it's moved or destroyed or otherwise affected by climate change.

Right. And it is a hope that this report, I mean, this report is meant to inform decision makers, right? The parties that are part of this treaty. No, absolutely. So first, the parties to the convention need to look at the findings of this report and look at where there might be gaps in implementation, where there could be violations, in fact. But I really think that this report is going to be instrumental for people around the world, for governments, for conservation groups that are working on these issues, for science.

scientists, and for private sector, for development banks that want to avoid harm to biodiversity. And so can you tell me about some of those specific recommendations? For species, we need to urgently take action to protect those species in most danger of extinction, including all of the fish species listed on CMS. The second is a really important concept, which is called ecological connectivity. for migratory species, they rely on a set of very specific places that they need to live. Ecological connectivity is about ensuring that they can get from place to place. So you need the spaces and they also need to get there.

And there's lots of hazards to that. So there can be roads, there can be rail, there can be fences, as simple as that. Not far from where I am here is where there's that big animal crossing they're putting in. be the largest in the U.S. for the mountain lines in Southern California. That's fantastic. I didn't know about that. Another very key finding is to scale up efforts to address pollution, which is another type of threat to migratory species. And pollution can come in many different forms, insecticides, pesticides, but also lead. So lead ammunition is something that is addressed under the treaty and with hopes to find alternatives to reduce the use because

it lead in habitats can then be taken up by other species and have obviously poisoning effects. So we've talked about some of the solutions like on a big scale, right? Like governments can better enforce existing laws and protect against illegal harvesting, right, of fish or animals or birds or whatever it might be. I'm curious, so like, are there things that individuals can do that can be helpful for trying to address the problems that these migratory species are facing? Yeah, let's start with an interesting topic of light pollution. We're kind of lighting up the natural world now, and that can be a huge problem for nature, for animals. And so at night, you know, after a certain time, you shut off your lights.

Or if you want to be sure you have a light on for security, there are certain light bulbs that are actually less. damaging to wildlife. Another issue is, you know, and it's a sensitive one, but this is the issue of domesticated animals and what they can do to wild species. The famous cats versus birds debate. You know, cats are predators and they're very cute, but, you know, when they go outside, they're going to do what their natural instinct is. And it's phenomenally bad for birds. I have cats outside. So that's another easy example. What do you want to see happen when people start reading into what you guys found here?

Yeah, my hope is that this report will be read by as many people as possible that it gets discussed, that its findings get really carefully considered, and that governments who are working on these issues, private sector people who also want to make a contribution. everyone who wants to keep seeing the birds flying and the whales jumping in the water, that they look at this report and find something that they can do to help these incredible species continue to survive. Awesome. Well, Amy, thank you so much for sharing all this with us. It's mind bending. There's a lot in there. So I've enjoyed digging in, and I hope others will too. Yeah, I really appreciate your interest in this.

And before we head out, we have a special request from you, our listeners. My colleague Tom Dreisbach is terrified of needles and getting shots. Loki, so am I. And he wants to hear from you. Send us a voice recording with your thoughts on needles and your fears thereof at shortwave at npr.org. This episode was produced by Rachel Carlson and edited by managing producer Rebecca Ramirez. Britt Hansen checked the facts. The audio engineer was Gilles.

I'm Nate Rot and you're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Say hi to the whales on the West Coast for me. Oh, I would love to say hi to the whales on the West Coast. When the migration gets going, it's awesome.