Comment: Work for a borderless world

I woke to the sound of workmen building another brick wall between two of our neighbours. What impact would it have on our local wildlife? The brutal reality is that building walls has become far too acceptable, says Conservation Director Andy Lester.

We’re all concerned about our own security. Building barriers between ourselves and the outside world has become the norm.

IMPACT HIBERNATION

Take the UK, for example. Our hedgehog population is in free-fall. Scientists have suspected everything from climate change impacting hibernation patterns through to badgers eating them. But what if the primary cause was building walls? Although there’s been little scientific work on the impact of walls on hedgehogs, I believe their decline is almost certainly linked to their no longer being free to roam in search of food.

Internationally, building walls is also topical. ‘Build the wall!’ has been shouted from the USA. But what will that mean for the Pronghorn, a relative of antelope, a species that migrates across the Sonoran Desert, or the Ocelot – a cat species that ranges from the south of the Mexican desert to its northern reaches in the US, or the Ferruginous pygmy owl – a low-flying species that may not be able to cross the border wall?

RECONNECT NATURE

In the UK, as we build more roads, warehouses and homes, we’re creating more barriers to wildlife movement. With climate change we need to do all we can to help species adapt. Having estates full of houses, impenetrable walls between gardens, regions or countries, and fences too high for birds to fly over, we risk taking massive steps backwards.

Let’s look at our boundaries and decide whether we can make holes. Real holes for animals to pass through and green ‘holes’ where wild flowers are seeded between neighbours, on street corners and in city centres. Let’s reconnect nature – not break it up! (Photo of British hedgehog: Mary and Angus Hogg)