Assisted Migration is basically an idea that developed mainly because of Global Warming. Since the world is gradually increasing in temperature eventually some animals and plants are going to die out because of the heat. Therefore some scientists proposed the idea of assisted migration, which says that since the Earth is going to get too hot for some species to survive let us now move them to a new habitat whereby even though the Earth is going to get hotter, they might have a chance to survive.
One example of such a species is the pikas. The pika is a small animal that lives on the west side of the United States and it is a herbivore which means it mainly eats all types of plants including grasses, shrubs, mosses, etc. The pika is one type of species, which as previously mentioned would not be able to survive in its current habitat if the heat were to rise; to be specific the pikas can’t last longer than a few hours in seventy eight degrees Fahrenheit, after that they will just curl up and die. In order for them to escape the heat they have to climb higher up the mountain. However, the problem with that is that some of the pikas are already at the peaks of their mountains and in order for them to get to the next mountain they’d first have to climb down this mountain and the trip of getting from their current mountain to the next one would most likely kill them. So here is a perfect scenario where a person could be of assistance to nature and take the pikas over to the next mountain or to a habitat better suited for their requirements for life. Another example of species that would be hurt by the raise in temperature would be the beeches down in Florida. Beeches don’t like temperatures higher than one hundred degrees and if the temperatures go any higher it wont be good for these trees and some of them might die.
I personally think that assisted migration is a bad idea for a few reasons. For one thing bureaucratically it doesn’t seem like something that’s feasible, since as Marris mentions, “Will squeamish scientists hang back while plants and animals (though probably fewer animals, as they are harder to mail and sometimes illegal to transport) are moved wholesale? Or will scientists convince governments to regulate this sort of thing?” So, in other words how will scientists go about doing this will they do it on their own or ask the government for help? Furthermore logistically it doesn’t seem to make sense I mean are we supposed to save every species that will be affected by global warming and if not what species should be saved over another? Furthermore human beings are also going to be affected by global warming so lets help our own kind first. I mean “by 2050, ‘water stress’ is projected to affect 600 million people in 18 or more countries in Africa alone.” (http://www.dochas.ie/Shared/Files/2/Water.pdf) In conclusion, I’m all for saving lives, but you can’t save them all and if we’re going to try and save some lets help save our own first.
