Andrew McCarthy Associates to present paper at BWEA 31
AMA's Dr Stephen Holloway is to present a paper entitiled 'Can turbines and wildlife co-exist in the UK? - Lessons learned and future visions' at BWEA 31 in October 2009.
An abstract of the presentation follows below:
The long-term future of the planet depends on the cumulative impacts of our actions, including the means by which we generate energy and our effect on the long-term functionality of local, national and global ecosystems. Wind energy is seen as a means by which we can produce clean energy, reduce carbon emissions and thus contribute to a global reduction in climate change. However wind farms have increasingly featured as headline news around the world where reports of bats and birds being killed have sparked debate over the potential wildlife cost of such energy production. Concern ranges from the direct impact of turbines through collision and barotrauma through to habitat destruction and species displacement.
There is a need, therefore, to evaluate whether localised impacts on wildlife are sufficiently great to negate any positive impacts on ecosystem dynamics that may emerge through reduction in global climate change. To this end there is an increasing body of global information gleaned from research and consultancy which provides indication of potential impacts. However such information rarely originates from the UK and thus many conclusions regards wind farm impacts in this country are often presumed rather than known.
Despite this we now have more prescriptive assessment methodologies which enable competent appraisal of schemes and recognised techniques for mitigation and compensation to reduce associated impacts on the environment. We can now increasingly recognise where adverse impacts may arise and thus reduce or avoid altogether ecological impacts of significance. Alongside there is increasing recognition that the global threat to wildlife may far outweigh short-term localised impacts caused by wind farms. Such recognition comes not only from the scientific world but increasingly from those charitable organizations historically opposed to such developments.
This paper will focus on the ways forward for UK onshore wind turbine developments in relation to ensuring impacts on wildlife are kept to a minimum and recognizing that opportunities exist for biodiversity enhancement not degradation. Through case-studies the talk will appraise the methods used for survey, assessment of impacts and opportunities for compensation and enhancement measures. It will provide a vision for UK wind farm development where the need to understand and account for impacts on local environments will be achieved whilst avoiding unnecessary burdens on emerging, and globally important, technologies.