With an average value of 14 degrees across the country, 2020 is the hottest year since 1900 in France, according to Météo France. A new sign of global warming, which threatens numerous species and natural sites on an international scale. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which brings together 1,400 organizations and governments, is sounding the alarm in a new report: a third of the 252 natural sites classified as World Heritage by Unesco are threatened by climate change.
A new risk which dethrones the invasive and exogenous species at the head of the dangers incurred by these exceptional natural spaces. In total, 94 of the 252 natural sites classified as World Heritage by Unesco are on the red list, i.e. 32 more than the last classification three years ago. About a third of the sites are at significant risk and 7% are now estimated to be in critical condition meaning “they urgently require additional and large-scale conservation measures” in order to be saved.
Great Barrier Reef, Everglades Park …
Among the threatened sites, the Great Barrier Reef, classified in “critical” danger because of climate change. Due to the warming of the ocean and its acidification, the coral turns white and dies. Also in Australia, gigantic fires regularly ravage Fraser Island, a World Heritage Site.
Another threatened paradise: the Everglades National Park, in Florida, in the United States. Nearly 6,000 square kilometers of swamps, populated by alligators or pelicans, risk disappearing with the rise in sea level.
It is in Africa that there are the most endangered areas: twelve sites classified as critically endangered, in particular natural parks in the Democratic Republic of Congo or in Senegal. European natural spaces are still preserved: none is yet on the red list. Nevertheless, the cirques and peaks of Reunion Island are classified dark orange, that is to say at “significant risk”, in particular due to the increase in cyclones and fires.
Despite all the dangers that threaten these exceptional sites, IUCN still found that 8 of them have seen an improvement since 2017.
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