A quiet emergency is unfolding in the skies, oceans, and landscapes that connect our planet. At a major UN wildlife meeting in Brazil, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), governments agreed to extend protection to 40 more migratory species, from cheetahs and striped hyenas to snowy owls, giant otters, and great hammerhead sharks. Too many of them are slipping toward extinction .

This is not just about animals. Migratory species are the living threads that hold ecosystems together. They pollinate crops, control pests, move nutrients across continents, and sustain fisheries and food systems that millions of people depend on. When they disappear, entire ecological and social networks begin to unravel.

The warning signs are already here. Nearly half of migratory species protected under the UN treaty are in decline, and the pressures are intensifying: habitat loss, infrastructure that blocks migration routes, plastic pollution, industrial fishing, climate change, and even emerging threats like deep-sea mining. These animals don’t belong to one country—they cross borders, oceans, and political systems. That means no single nation can save them alone.

The new protections matter. Species added to the highest level of protection must be strictly safeguarded, their habitats preserved, and the dangers along their migration paths reduced. Others will benefit from coordinated international action: shared research, joint conservation plans between countries, and aligned policies across the world.

What really needs protecting now goes beyond individual species. It’s the invisible highways they depend on: flyways, ocean corridors, river systems, and seasonal habitats, the UN group tells Green Prophet. It’s also the communities living alongside these species, whose knowledge and cooperation are essential to conservation.

 “We came to Campo Grande knowing that the populations of half the species protected under this treaty are in decline. We leave with stronger protections and more ambitious plans but the species themselves are not waiting for our next meeting. Implementation has to begin tomorrow,” said CMS Executive Secretary Amy Fraenkel.

“Expanded protections for cheetahs, snowy owls, giant otters, great hammerhead sharks, and many more, demonstrate that nations can act when the science is clear. Our duty now is to close the distance between what we’ve agreed and what happens on the ground for these animals.”

And it’s the fragile balance between development and nature, especially as energy, transport, and infrastructure expand across the same routes animals have used for thousands of years.

The urgency is clear. Scientists and policymakers at the meeting agreed on stronger plans, but they also acknowledged a hard truth: the animals cannot wait for the next conference. Protection must move from promises to action—on land, at sea, and across borders.

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Many species of birds are threatened by chemicals, alterations in their environment, aircraft, and electrocution. Larger birds, in particular, are more prone to suffering electrocution because their body size and wingspan exceed the phase-to-ground or phase-to-phase distance. When the wings touch the line or ground component, the body forms a path through which an electrical current can flow, leading to electrocution.

The region is located on the migratory route used by millions of birds twice a year between Europe, Africa, and Asia. The country also has almost 40 residents, migratory or rare visiting diurnal raptors, and nine species of owl. On their journey, these birds are using the power structures to perch, roost, or nest. By interacting with the electrical equipment, the avian population was also causing power outages. It was then an ecological and economical matter to find a solution to mitigate the possible interactions in this key territory.

In order to mitigate the risk, a protection plan was collectively developed by a utility in the region and the respective Parks Authority of the Ministry of Environment. A key Middle Eastern environmental NGO was also involved.

To get started the key stakeholders ran a 24-month study of the interactions of birds and high-risk overhead lines in the important bird areas of the region, to understand how birds were harmed by the powered equipment based on their habits. For example, the experts tried to understand where the problem commonly occurred and how often, and the species affected most.

Fixing the Problem

The study revealed key places where some birds were more likely to be electrocuted than others.

At first, the team focused on 22, 33 kV lines because the highest rates of electrocution were seen on these lines. By design, distribution lines and towers had relatively small clearances between phase to phase and phase to ground components and would readily benefit from an insulation solution.

Starting with the high-risk areas and then expanding into others, the local utility installed protective insulating covers from TE Connectivity on several thousand distribution towers all over the country.  The insulation covers were selected by utility engineers after careful consideration. Including materials long-term durability under extreme temperature variances and harsh environments. Post-installation studies have shown that the poles which were retrofitted did not have any electrocutions again.

The team also acknowledged problems that were unique to the transmission towers. The transmission structures located near bodies of water were prone to pollution flashover as well as many electrocutions and collisions into wires. They required another insulation need.

The utility engineer determined that the products available did not fix the issue at hand. They eventually installed a combination of TE’s guano shields to divert guano away from the insulators and insulation installed on the live elements beneath provided cover and protection against pollution flashovers.

The utility involved also selected other wildlife power outage mitigation solutions offered by TE that have been in use all around the world for decades. It installed these elements in 1996 and there are still no signs of degradation to this day, notwithstanding the guano and coastal salt contamination, the high temperatures, and the UV exposure for more than 25 years of use.

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Unusual winter rains in Israel give fuel to plants which feed millions of new “painted lady” butterflies

They keep coming, thousands of them, in what appears to be a south-north migration flight. Coming coincidentally on the first day of Spring, this “invasion” of ‘Painted Ladies’ butterflies caught our eyes in southern Netanya, Israel as a totally unnatural phenomenon not usually seen in such large numbers.

Known by their scientific name of danaus chrysippus these medium sized butterflies are usually seen this time of year, but never in such numbers.

The sheer size of the butterfly swarm this year appears to be a very rare phenomenon that has been assisted greatly by an unusually wet winter. The migration movement of the butterflies, also known as the “plain tiger” or “African Queen”, appears to have begun this year on the Arabian Peninsula and will end up far to the north in Europe.

The life-span of these butterflies is only around two weeks; meaning that at least three generations will be needed to reach their final destination. This butterfly migration is a bit different than the annual migration of the North American Monarch butterfly that migrates each year between southern Canada and Mexico. The present influx of Painted Lady butterflies passing through Israel is estimated to be “in the billions” and will continue until mid May.

The wet winter conditions have also been favorable to locations south of Israel; causing a much higher than usual number of butterflies to hatch, according to news reports.This year, the butterfly flights are being reported all over Israel. People wishing to see these beautiful insects will be able to so do for the next six or so weeks.

To see these beautiful butterflies, just go to where a lot of flowers are located, preferably in open spaces, between 9:00 and 12:00 am.

More articles on insects and insect patterns:

Swarms! Plague of locusts could be breeding near you

Israel Military Uses Mimicry to Design Butterfly Drone

Flying spark food-tech asks, “Do you want flies with that?”

Photo of Painted Ladies butterflies by David Cohen/flash90 

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Airbnb proved a brilliant platform for protesting their wretched living conditions. In their ad – which the rental company has since removed from the website  – the anonymous posters said they have lived for three months in a small tent. “This is a real opportunity to experience life as a Syrian refugee,” they posted. “While EU politicians talk about refugees, you can have an authentic refugee experience – tents, wood-fire cooking, 41 degree heat, marginal sanitary situation, friendly scorpions, broken promises, even dehydration.”

As do many other Airbnb property owners, the refugees teased prospective renters with ironic special deals, including “free parking”, access to portable toilets (shared by 600 others), and “rarely available” medical care and schooling. “If you are lucky you might get one of the two hot showers. There is a large vacant lot where the toilets are, which the children use as a playground. Please join in the games.”

Millions of people around the world use the in San Francisco-based service to find shared accommodation. Despite a company credo that states, “Whether an apartment for a night, a castle for a week, or a villa for a month, Airbnb connects people to unique travel experiences, at any price point, in more than 34,000 cities and 191 countries”, Airbnb issued a statement saying it had removed the listing because it was “not permitted under our terms of service”.

It said that it understood the listing intended to highlight the plight of refugees living in camps which have been criticized by international aid groups and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). A company spokesperson noted that Airbnb has raised “hundreds of thousands of dollars” for UNHCR.

Last year, a constant flotilla of small boats and inflatables carried more than 800,000 refugees and migrants, primarily from Syria and Iraq, from Turkey to Greece. When the so-called “Balkan Route” leading from Greece to northern Europe closed in March, over 50,000 people became stranded in Greece, left to fend the elements in makeshift camps in deplorable conditions.

In the past month, refugees moved into registered camps created by the Greek authorities and the military, but aid agencies and the UNHCR have reported the camps as being unhygienic and inappropriate for long-term accommodation. The International Rescue Committee and Doctors Without Borders warned that the new camp was not ready to host the number of refugees being placed there, now numbering over 600 people.

Maybe these anonymous refugees will now turn to EatWith, and offer “authentic dining experiences” inclusive of UNHCR rations and tainted water.  Can UBER be far behind?

Kudos to these survivors, who despite miserable circumstances and a bleak future, persevere in trying to get the rest of the world to wake up and take action.

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The discovery came when scientists in Trinity College, Dublin put the bones of a female farmer buried 5,000 years ago in a tomb near Belfast through genome analysis. They also sequenced DNA from the remains of three men buried about 2,000 years later in County Antrim.  They used a technique called whole-genome analysis to study characteristics of each person, as well as the wider story of ancestral migration and settlement as shown in their collective DNA.

Their findings conclude that the present Irish population built upon a mass migration of Stone Age farmers from the Fertile Crescent,  the multi-cultural empire of Mesopotamia that stretched from the Nile River in Egypt to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in modern Iraq, including Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel. According to a report in The Guardian, the geneticists confirm an archaeological theory that’s been formulating for decades: migrant communities did not compete with the original Irish. They became the Irish.

The ancestors of the prehistoric Irishmen hailed from the area around the contemporary Levant, where agriculture began. They likely migrated across the southern Mediterranean, arriving in Ireland with knowledge of farming, ceramics, use of grains and cereals, and cattle. They also brought the genes that permits milk digestion in older humans, and may even have brought the building blocks of the modern-day Irish language.

The Dublin team, collaborating with scientists from Queens University Belfast, assert that the two radical changes in European prehistory, namely advancements in metallurgy and agriculture, brought on more than a shift in culture and economics.  It caused genetic changes as well as the native population of hunter gatherers was successively overwhelmed by new Middle Eastern arrivals. Their report, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, concludes that, in Ireland, new immigrants began to redefine the nation.

“It is clear that this project has demonstrated what a powerful tool ancient DNA analysis can provide in answering questions which have long perplexed academics regarding the origins of the Irish,” Eileen Murphy, osteoarchaeology lecturer at Queen’s in Belfast told The Guardian.

“There was a great wave of genome change that swept into Europe from above the Black Sea into Bronze Age Europe and we now know it washed all the way to the shores of its most westerly island,” said Dan Bradley, professor of population genetics at Trinity College Dublin.

“And this degree of genetic change invites the possibility of other associated changes, perhaps even the introduction of language ancestral to western Celtic tongues.”

Photograph: Daniel Bradley, Trinity College Dublin

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Experts are calling on Israel to completely enclose its borders with a barrier to keep out ‘floods of climate refugees’

Around two months ago, a small piece of research carried out by the University of Buffalo found that in environmental disasters, humans tend to make things worse. Rather than getting together to resolve issues, the bickering starts and the fists start to fly. It’s a pretty bleak look at human society but one which I don’t buy into. I’d like to think that if/when things turn ugly due to runaway climate change, that the human race will sit down and try to avoid all sorts of nasty things like water wars. Indeed, there is a growing body of research which suggests that scarce resources could encourage better regional co-operation.

However, every now and then something happens which makes me doubt my faith in humanity and it’s ability to do ‘the right thing’. The recent report presented to Israel’s environment minister suggesting that they build a border fencing – including a marine border in the Mediterranean and Red Seas – to keep climate refugees out is one such example.

The report states that Israel must prepare for a situation in which climate refugees escaping drought and rising oceans will flood into the country in their efforts to reach Europe. “The lack of water, warming and sea-level rise, even if it will occur on a different schedule, will bring migration movements from all impoverished regions to every place where it is possible to escape this,” wrote a team of academics, led by Prof. Arnon Soffer and Dr. Anton Berkovsky of the University of Haifa’s Geography Department.

Moreover, the experts told the Jerusalem Post that additional law enforcement resources will be required to deal with the ramifications of securing the Egyptian and Jordanian borders, as an economic crisis might ensue for Negev Bedouin who trade across those lines. “In India, they shoot; in Nepal, they shoot; in Japan, they shoot,” Prof. Arnon Soffer said, adding that in Israel, the refugees know they can find welcome. “I am one that fights for building fences all around Israeli borders,” he said to the Jerusalem Post.

“We are an island – we don’t belong to this region, and we have to defend Israel from waves of migration from Egypt from Jordan and maybe from Syria. If we want to keep Israel a Jewish state, we will have to defend ourselves from what I call ‘climate refugees,’ exactly as Europe is doing now,” he said.

I think this statement from one of the authors is particularly telling and illustrates how national fears (real or imagined) become imprinted on the spectre of ‘climate refugees.’ For Soffer it seems to be about keeping Israel Jewish and making sure they are not ‘flooded’ by (let’s face it) Arabs. However, not only is this fear xenophobic but it’s inaccurate too. According to the latest research on climate refugees by Gregory White, climate disasters actually make it very difficult for people to leave and those that do travel, don’t go very far. So stating that you are justing doing what Europe is doing actually means following an illogical policy put in place due to irrational fears.

Whats more, White states that a “security-minded approach to CIM [Climate Induced Migration] diverts intellectual energy from more important endeavours.” Endeavours such as helping the developing world adapt and mitigating the emissions of the developed world. He adds that efforts to encourage adaptation and nurture south-south cooperation on trade and sustainable development practices, would be “far better than sounding an environmental-refugee klaxon and securitizating international borders.” Especially as the securitization of borders would have its own ecological costs inflicted by the military-security industry.

On a lighter note, the report does recommend swift action to increase Israel’s water supply and secure its food and energy. Soffer also says that sharing water resources between Palestinians and Israelis may well lead to peace. Whats more, the Environment Minister is a little dubious of the extreme measures proposed by the report. Speaking to Ynetnews he explained that “hiding behind fences is not a solution. Instead, it’s important to develop cooperative (initiatives) with neighbouring countries and international agencies.” How genuine this statement’s co-operative spirit is considering he said he’s happy to cut Gaza’s power supply if Israel faces any shortages, is another issue for another time.

For now, I just want to say that any notion that Israel’s should build a(nother) barrier to keep out climate refugees is not only irrational but it’s also not a particularly useful way to handle the unfair hand climate change will deal some of the world’s poorest people.

: Image of the boundary on a lock, of Israel/Lebanon via Maxmac/Shutterstock.com

For more on Climate Refugees see:

Climate, Migration and Why the Security Agenda Just Doesn’t Help

Israeli Minister Proposes Cuts to Gaza Electricity to Bridge Shortfalls

Water Scarcity Leads More to Peace Than War (Interview)

The post Why Israel Is Wrong To Fear Climate Refugees appeared first on Green Prophet.

Around the time of the Copenhagen Summit in 2009, there was a sense that climate change was finally transitioning from something which only concerned hippy do-gooders to an issue that affected the entire international community. Everywhere you looked people were talking about climate change.

There was campaign after campaign, there were art exhibitions, documentaries, theatre productions and it felt like we may have been on the cusp of change (hindsight sadly tells us that we were not).

Another field where climate change was finally grabbing people’s attention was around security. The notion of water wars as well as climate-related migration was entering the public consciousness. This however, was not strictly ‘A Good Thing’.

As Gregory White states in his book Climate change and migration: security and borders in a warming world, ‘securitizating’ climate-induced migration (CIM) is counter-productive as it helps justify more unnecessary migration controls. It also encourages rich nations to abandon any sense of ethical responsibility to those on the receiving end of their emissions: “As industrialized countries contribute the most to climate change through consumption and emissions, CIM [Climate-induced migration] constitutes an ethical dilemma that will require them to reconsider and revise the existing dialogue concerning migration.”

As well as tackling the ethics around climate-related migration, White explores what climate-induced migration actually is. He states that it is not always going to be people leaving disappeared islands or lands that have become deserts. Slow environmental degradation of areas of the world is a more realistic imagining of the problem. Indeed, he states that slow degradation is already playing some role in existing migration alongside more traditional push and pull factors (economic opportunities, politics etc).

White also explores many of the common misconceptions people have about migration in general and CIM more specifically. For example, many people think that the world is on the move with the poorest threatening to ‘swamp’ our shores. As such migrators are seen as a security threat that must be controlled. This feeds rather dangerously into perception that climate refugees are also a threat to the developed world’s stability and security.

Despite what the media and lots of right-wing pundits like to tell us, most migration is regional and very limited. So African tend to migrate to other African nations. Asians will migrate to other Asian countries and so on. What’s more, although we tend to think that the poorest are the most mobile this isn’t true at all. In fact, one of the issues White raises is that with environmental degradation, migration tends to slow down as the very poorest lose the means to muster even the most basic resources to be able to transplant themselves away from their situation.

The very lucky few, the richest and most influential in a ecologically-struggling society, are those who retain the ability to migrate and to migrate significant distances across continents to the developed world. Most migrators end up in regional transit states such as Morocco, Mexico and Turkey without the ability to move on to more affluent societies.

As such, White states that a “security-minded approach to CIM diverts intellectual energy from more important endeavours.” -Endeavours such as helping the developing world adapt and mitigating the emissions of the developed world. White adds that efforts to encourage adaptation and nurture south-south cooperation on trade and sustainable development practices, would be “far better than sounding an environmental-refugee klaxon and securitizating international borders.” Especially as the securitization of borders would have its own ecological costs inflicted by the military-security industry.

This rather slim book (180 pages) is a great introduction to the complexities of climate migration and the rather unique position transit states find themselves when it comes to CIM. Many of it conclusions about the dangers of securitizing climate-induced migration extend to the dangers of securitizing the broader agenda. That is, it becomes about conflict and securing resources rather than shared responsibility towards each other and cutting our emissions.

Title: Climate Change and Migration: Security and Borders in A Warming World
Author: Gregory White
Year of Publication: 2011
Publisher: Oxford University Press

For more green book reviews see: 
The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change by Stephen Gardiner
Book Review of Edgelands: A Journey Into England’s True Wilderness
I’m With The Bears – Book Review

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