Light pollution, such as public lighting “disturbs migratory birds”, alert this Saturday, October 8 Cédric Marteau, director of the nature protection division at the LPO, while many birds leave France to join the heat of the countries located further south.
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Storks, starlings, snow geese, swallows… Winter is coming, and several migratory birds are on the way to reach countries with higher temperatures. A long journey to the South which will be “disturbed by lighting” public warns this Saturday, October 8 Cédric Marteau, director of the nature protection division at the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO), guest on franceinfo on the occasion of World Migratory Bird Day, the theme of which is light pollution.
franceinfo: Where does light pollution come from?
Cédric Marteau: It’s about all the lighting that exists on the planet. In Europe, we have 6% of the surface which is illuminated each year more. This poses some difficulties. The impact of light pollution is on health, energy and biodiversity in general.
“Migratory birds are disoriented because some of them use the sky, the moon to move.”
Cédric Marteau, director of the nature protection unit at the LPOFrance Info
We are in the middle of a migration period and we have several million birds currently crossing France to reach their winter quarters in Africa. These birds are disturbed by this lighting.
How does this manifest?
There is disorientation on some species, birds confuse lighting and some will crash into skyscrapers. This will disrupt the biological clocks of certain species. Diurnal birds will become nocturnal and will take advantage of this lighting to feed and therefore put additional pressure on their prey. Others will avoid these lighting areas, they will be isolated and have great difficulty moving around.
Are the government and companies sensitive to this problem?
There is a great disparity in the initiatives that are taken. There are regions that set an example such as Occitania, which is very advanced and aims to find starry skies. We obviously have a goal of sobriety. More and more municipalities are looking at spending. Ademe places more than 40% of electricity expenditure due to public lighting. There are too many lights related to billboards.