Thousands of scientists warn Trump’s border wall will threaten biodiversity
This includes more than 2,000 scientists from the U.S. and Mexico.
More than 2,500 scientists from 43 countries are joining together as signatories to a scientific paper warning about the environmental impacts of President Donald Trump’s proposed wall along the border between the United States and Mexico...
“Fences and walls erected along international boundaries in the name of national security have unintended but significant consequences for biodiversity,” states the study published in the scientific journal BioScience, authored by 16 scientists and signed onto by thousands of others.
The paper echoes concerns raised ever since the border wall was first introduced by Trump... Contained within the spending bill passed in March by Congress is the stipulation that none of the more than $1 billion allocated for the wall could be used for construction in the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge...home to... half of the butterfly species found in North America...
Before any future construction happens, the scientists ask that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) do pre-planning surveys to identify species, habitats, and ecological resources at risk. The endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep, for instance, would be less able to move between California and Mexico to access water and birthing sites. And it will be “likely impossible” for other endangered animals, such as the Mexican gray wolf or the Sonoran pronghorn, to help reestablish smaller populations across the border, the scientists say.
