Environmental destruction by humans is a serious problem, both here at home in the UK, and around the World. The environmental destruction by humans around the World contributes to climate change, results in deforestation, pollution, and the destruction of other habitats - such as coastal habitats.
What Is Coastal Habitat Destruction?
Coastal habitat destruction is usually either caused by human activity, either through developing over coastal marine habitats or as a result of climate change. The climate change can result in sea temperature rises, which end up destroying plants and animals within seas and oceans.
This is most commonly seen in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, where sea temperature rises are contributing to the bleaching of coral reefs. This results in corals, plants and animals dying off. This change in sea temperatures is not only present in tropical waters like the Great Barrier Reef, it is also present in colder environments here in the UK.
Climate change is resulting in plankton and fish (who eat plankton) move from British waters to colder waters, as a result of warming British sea waters. Scientists have found that plankton is not adapting to this warming. These studies present evidence of how vulnerable our coastal ecosystems are. Further damage to them, such as developing over the ecosystem of Coul Links, would threaten these ecosystems more.
What Is Coul Links?
Coul Links is a coastal ecosystem which is in Sutherland, in the North of Scotland. Coul Links is rare, as the RSPB says that it is one of the few last remaining sand dunes in Scotland, which hasn't been developed over.
This makes it an essential and important marine ecosystem to preserve.
The site was given approval by the Highland Council to be developed over. This would rune the dunes, the ecosystem and the marine animals which depend on it for their survival. It is planned to be developed over and replaced with a golf course.
This isn't the first time that this has happened in Scotland. The SNP granted permission to Donald Trump to build on an important coastal ecosystem in Aberdeen. Trump's golf course was given the go-ahead in Aberdeen, even though the Scottish government knew that it would destroy the sand dunes and endangered species.
If the Coul Links development goes ahead, then it will be repeating history and destroying one of Scotland's last remaining wild marine ecosystems.
If you don't want to see that happen, the please sign the RSPB petition here. Thank you!