New tool finds best places to build wind farms to protect birds of prey - The Mail & Guardian

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Researchers say the computer model is a ‘win-win’ for eagles and wind farm developers

, and the University of Amsterdam have pioneered a new tool — the Verreaux’s Eagle Risk Assessment — that enables developers to identify the best locations to build wind farms and reduce the risk of the eagles being killed.

As birds of prey have long lifespans, and produce relatively few young each year, even a small increase in deaths can lead to population decline, the researchers say. With the rapid growth of wind energy developments worldwide, “it is critical that the negative impacts on wildlife are considered and mitigated”, write the authors in their study, which wasTo minimise collisions, developers usually try to build wind turbines away from areas in “high use” by birds of prey, or they create simple buffers around a nest. But these exclusion buffers are not working.

“Circular exclusion buffers have been ineffective compared to our models, firstly because they have been variable in size, with some developers applying buffers as small as 800m radius; to work, they need to be much larger than that,” says avian conservation biologist Arjun Amar, an associate professor at the FitzPatrick Institute and co-author of the study.

 

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That’s really terrible , but what is the toll from coal fired electricity ? I completely agree with protecting our birds .

Sad story but how do they do it on Holland?

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