Ramping up renewable energy generation to combat climate change could lead to the deaths of huge numbers of migrating birds and other wildlife unless governments and power companies reduce the dangers from new infrastructure such as wind farms and transmission lines.
The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and partners are promoting guidelines for planners and power firms that lay out what can be done to reduce the impact of the expected surge in renewables.
Their goal is to persuade governments to anchor protections for wildlife in national legislation and ensure that the environmental dangers from energy projects are fully reflected in environmental impact assessments before new projects are authorized.
Success would help resolve a potential contradiction among the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. These include affordable energy for all and action to combat climate change as well as protecting ecosystems and halting biodiversity loss.
“We need renewable energy,” CMS Executive Secretary Bradnee Chambers said at an event during the second United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2) in Nairobi. “But we can deploy it in a safe way that is compatible with wildlife.”
Investments in renewable power generation are expected to soar following the Paris Agreement on climate change. Switching from fossil fuels to alternative sources such as wind, solar and hydro-electric power will be vital in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.
Each of these power technologies has an impact on wildlife and biodiversity. However, wind farms and hydroelectric dams as well as transmission lines are the source of greatest concern.
Parties to the CMS have endorsed guidelines to ensure energy developments protect avian, terrestrial and aquatic wildlife. They also have backed an international multi-stakeholder task force on energy, bringing together conservationists, governments, investors and power companies to help implement the guidelines and build partnerships.
“From the task force, once it gets going, we need to educate the public. We need to educate the business sector. We need to get these guidelines that we have developed with our partners into national legislation, into impact assessments at the national level,” Chambers said.
Patricia Zurita, the CEO of BirdLife International, one of the partners in the task force, said there was only incomplete data available on the impacts of wind turbines and other renewable energy technologies on wildlife.
However, it is well established that wind turbines kill birds and bats that collide with them. Surging air pressure near turbine blades can also kill bats by damaging their lungs. However, migrating birds tend to use the same routes, so wind farms can be located to avoid major flyways.
Zurita also highlighted a Birdlife project in Gebel El Zeit, Egypt that saw wind turbines shut down during peak migration times at dusk and dawn or when field observers reported large numbers of birds in the area. She said the shutdowns had negligible effects on the amount of energy generated. Turbines can also be shutdown automatically when radar detects high numbers of birds, or at dusk when bats are most active.
When located offshore, wind farms also pose a threat to cetaceans including whales, dolphins and porpoises. There is concern that noise from offshore wind farms, especially during installation, disturbs the animals and interferes with their communication.
Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary in the German Environment Ministry, said interruptions at wind farms in order to protect migrating birds or other wildlife should be as acceptable as interruptions caused by low wind speeds, and that both sources of natural fluctuation in supply could be offset through backup systems and improved storage solutions.
Dams for hydroelectric power generation also can harm wildlife by blocking migration routes for species including salmon and trout, preventing fish reaching breeding grounds and causing high juvenile mortality rates. A solution is insisting that dam designs include fish passages.
Whether carrying power from renewable or non-renewable sources, power transmission lines pose a serious danger to birds. According to Jacques Trouvilliez, Executive Secretary of the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA), millions of birds die already every year from collisions or electrocution in the African-Eurasian region. Larger birds including pelicans, bustards and eagles are prominent victims.
Burying power lines is an expensive solution. Placing markers on power lines and insulating dangerous poles are cheaper ways to reduce losses.
Such measures are particularly vital in migration bottlenecks. Birdlife has created online mapping tools to highlight these areas and help planners and companies avoid placing infrastructure there.
Zurita highlighted the crucial Rift Valley-Red Sea flyway used by an estimated 11.5 million migratory birds moving between Eurasia and Africa as one that could be badly affected by energy infrastructure development.
Chambers said the task force hoped to expand its role in promoting good practice and spreading know-how by establishing an online platform and providing capacity building to developing countries, and by looking beyond its current focus on Europe and Africa to the Americas and to Asia.
“With better planning, most of the problems are solvable” Flasbarth said.
