AMMAN — Among
the effects of climate change in Jordan is a switch in birds’ migration times
and trails, and the emergence of foreign species of flora and fauna, experts
said.
اضافة اعلان
Climate change
causes extreme weather conditions, such as increased temperatures, flash floods
and rain or snow, which comes at unusual times, Basheer Al-Ayasrah, manager of
Dibeen Forest Reserve, told
Jordan News on Sunday.
As birds react
instinctively to weather aspects, some have started to be seen unusually in
certain areas of Jordan, according to Ayasrah.
Jordan is one of
the most important migration pathways, as birds usually move from East Europe
to Africa and vice-versa through the Middle East every year, said the
naturalist.
The Kingdom is
considered an “ecological bridge” for bird migration across the continents of
Asia, Europe, and Africa, according to data from the Royal Society for the
Conservation of Nature (RSCN).
Birds fly
through the Jordan Valley, the lowest part of the Great Rift Valley,
benefitting from the raising air currents that facilitate their journey
southward to the Red Sea and Africa eventually, Ayasrah said.
Seeking moderate
weather, birds migrate according to temperatures along the year, in light of
climate changes, especially increasing temperatures, birds would migrate in
February instead of March, said the pundit.
Away from the
Middle East, a recent study by the Joint Wadden Sea Secretariat said that, in
addition to sea level rise, extreme weather events threaten habitats of
migratory birds.
Feras
Al-Rahahleh, manager of Aqaba Bird Observatory affiliated with the RSCN, said
that also food reserves along the migration path are affected by climate
changes as the hikes in temperatures lead early bushfires, or the spread of
certain invasive grass species over others.
During the past
few years, changes in time of migration have been detected. Usually birds cross
Jordan from mid-March to mid-April, this year, the movement was late to start
only the first week of April until early June, according to Rahahleh.
The effects also
include an increase or decrease in the numbers of migrating birds. April last
year, the observatory recorded around 15,000 water rail (bird), which usually
does not reach more than few hundreds, perhaps due the increase in temperatures
in this time of the year.
In general,
threatened habitats, which the case in many regions across the world, means
threatened migratory pathways, said Rahahleh.
“Mainstreaming
migratory soaring birds’ conservation in the five sectors of agriculture,
hunting and tourism, waste management and energy in Jordan” is one of the
RSCN’s current projects, aiming at preserving the Jordan Valley as one of the
most important flyways for migratory birds in the world,” according to RSCN’s
website.
Over 1.5 million
birds of at least 37 species, including five globally endangered species, use
the Rift Valley-Red Sea corridor between their breeding grounds in Europe and
West Asia and wintering areas in Africa each year, according to the RSCN.
Read more Features
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
