Man penetrates into every corner of the earth. The furthest corners of the jungle are just as unsafe from it as the deepest depths of the oceans. There is already hardly any space left for other living beings, and soon ten billion people will be living in the world. Habitat loss is one of the most important reasons for the global extinction of species. This is in every serious report on the causes of the biodiversity crisis.
In contrast, the fatal interactions with the second major crisis, climate change, are still greatly underestimated. And an effect that the biologist Briana Abrahams from the University of Washington in Seattle is now in the current issue of the science journal is almost ignored Science thematized: Climate change exacerbates the conflicts between humans and wild animals.
It is by no means certain that people will always emerge victorious from such disputes. There are already numerous examples that have turned out badly for the species Homo sapiens. In India, for example, hordes of elephants invaded human settlements during an unusually prolonged drought. The hungry animals destroyed the crops, attacked and killed people.
Great white sharks come to the coast and attack people
Off the coast of South Africa, the warming of the water during a heat wave led to a change in the range of species. This in turn attracted great white sharks to the coastal areas, where there are also many people. The number of shark attacks on fishermen and swimmers quadrupled in a single year.
There are more and more fatal encounters between humans and wild animals in the Canadian Hudson Bay, where polar bears are much more often on land and thus near settlements since the ice melted. Or in the Himalayas: there, because of climate change at high altitudes, wild sheep can no longer find food and instead eat people’s crops. Snow leopards follow their prey, also come close to settlements and also kill the farmers’ cattle.
The increase in such conflicts between humans and animals is just one of the many negative effects of climate change and the omnipresent human presence. But it is important to understand such relationships. The examples show once again how closely the major crises of climate change and species decline are interwoven.
That is why they must also be fought together. However, this only has a chance of success if people allow the wilderness and its inhabitants a little more space. Both sides would benefit from it.