Species highs

Abstract

A new report highlights the threat of climate change to new species discovered in the eastern Himalayas over recent years, writes Nigel Williams. A new report highlights the threat of climate change to new species discovered in the eastern Himalayas over recent years, writes Nigel Williams. More than 350 new species, including a flying frog and the world's smallest deer, as well as a new species of primate, have been discovered in the eastern Himalayas in recent years, according to a new report from the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF). But this biodiversity is now threatened by climate change, it warns. The report has been published ahead of the key climate change meeting in Copenhagen in December which aims to replace the Kyoto Protocol and establish countries' commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Evidence from glaciers suggests high-altitude regions are experiencing warming temperatures that threaten fragile ecosystems. The Himalayas sit at the crossroads of two continental plates and the report covers the mountain regions of Bhutan, north-eastern India, northern Myanmar, Nepal and southern parts of Tibet. The region contains a wide range of species that includes Asian elephants, clouded leopards, water buffalo, gaur, hornbills, cobras and geckos to the south and snow leopards, red pandas, black bears and wolves to the north. The Himalayas also comprise some of the world's deepest gorges in a region that also contains the world's most northerly tropical forests, temperate forests, tall grasslands, savannas and alpine meadows. A great deal of this region is difficult to access and has made biological surveys extremely difficult and left large areas biologically unexplored. But the new report describes an array of new species: 244 plants, 16 amphibians, 16 reptiles, 14 fish, two birds, two mammals and at least 60 invertebrates. “These exciting finds reinforce just how little we know about the world around us,” said the WWF's conservation advisor, Mark Wright. “In the eastern Himalayas we have a region of extraordinary beauty and with some of the most biologically rich areas on the planet. Ironically, it is also one of the regions most at risk from climate change,” he says. “Only time will tell how well species will be able to adapt—if at all.” Among the discoveries are a bright green tree frog which uses its long red webbed feet to glide in the air, and the miniature muntjac or leaf deer. At just over 60 centimetres tall, this is the world's smallest deer species. One find was a 100-million-year-old gecko fossil found in an amber mine in Myanmar. The now extinct species is the oldest type of gecko known to science. The region harbours a remarkable array of species and is also home to many of the remaining Bengal tigers and greater one-horned rhinos. But researchers point out that this hotspot of biological diversity is highly vulnerable to climate change. The WWF has used the report to launch its Climate for Life campaign to bring the concerns about the future of these species to wider attention. The WWF is just one of the many organisations developing their lobbying positions ahead of the key Copenhagen meeting on carbon emissions. “We are calling on governments to commit industrialised countries to a 40 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared to 1990 levels,” the organisation says. “There is no room for compromise on this issue,” says Wright. “Without these cuts the Himalayas face a precarious future — impacting both the unique wildlife and the 20 per cent of humanity who rely on the river systems that arise in these mountains.” But conservationists face problems when the politicians meet in Copenhagen. There are growing concerns about who should bear the cost of reducing carbon emissions and a new report, published last month, argues that the UN's estimate of the costs of adapting to reduced carbon emissions — $100 billion — could be up to three times higher. The author of the report, from the International Institute for Environment Development and the Grantham Institute for Climate Change, believes the amount of money available in Copenhagen will be a key factor in whether a climate change agreement is reached. At this summer's G8 summit in Italy, the participating wealthy nations agreed to limit global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius — above which most scientists believe significant climate change consequences will occur. They agreed an 80 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and a 50 per cent cut in global emissions but failed to outline how they will meet those targets. Conservationists will be hoping for significant outcomes from Copenhagen about how such targets can be met if biodiversity, as recently described in the eastern Himalayas, is to have a chance of coping with future climate.