As part of his ‘half earth' theory, Dr. Wilson envisions a series of ‘long landscape' wildlife chains to help species respond to the effects of climate change. In essence these ‘chains' will be vast corridors of wild habitat running vertically and horizontally across continents. These corridors will allow species to move north as temperatures rise in the south, and east as rainfall declines in the west. “I see a chain of uninterrupted corridors forming, with twists and turns, some of them opening up to become wide enough to accommodate national biodiversity parks, a new kind of park that won't let species vanish," he told the Smithsonian magazine of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
While his theory has been labeled idealistic and even audacious, Dr. Wilson insists that scale is important as ‘islandisation' can have a disastrous impact on wildlife. Species confined to small landscapes are vulnerable to genetic anomalies, disease and extinction.
Dr. Wilson's radical theory has been at the receiving end of plenty of skepticism, but he remains undaunted. “Half earth is the goal but it's how we get there, and whether we can come up with a system of wild landscapes we can hang on to," he said. “Battles are where the fun is and where the most rapid advances are made."
In, Sanctuary's February 2014 cover story, titled ‘Nature needs half- Leave me alone', Harvey Locke and Jennifer Scarlott expounded on the concept in an Indian context. Read their views here: Nature Needs Half - Leave Me Alone.
Source: The Independent.
Author: Cara Tejpal.
