> * More than 5 million birds are killed each year in Australia due to
> land clearing.
>
> Perhaps someone out there who has seen this statement could enlighten
> me
> about how the ACF calculated it? Presumably there is also a statistic
> on
> those species that benefit from land clearance too - "x birds per year
> are
> born due to land clearance"?
>
Arguably both are "bad facts", but also both are obviously pretty loose
guesstimates. The precise number is not so important as the order of
magnitude, which seems plausible.
It might be more useful to speculate on the number of species of birds,
beetles, lizards, frogs, etc... that die and as species are heavily
dependant on the habitats that are mostly being cleared (lots of grassy
woodland). Another "x squillion" Noisy Miners born each year as a
consequence of land clearing could hardly be seen to be a positive
outcome, given the negative impact they're known to have on other
species. Likewise, how many more Eastern Rosellas, Galahs and
Magpie-larks do we really need, if the price is to lose Regent
Honeyeaters, Swift Parrots, etc.?
Cheers, Lawrie
Lawrie Conole
Painted Honeyeater Project
58 Holden Street, Fitzroy North 3068
Victoria, Australia
Tel +61 3 9486 4575
E-mail <>
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