Population impacts
“Due Diligence and Demographic Disparities: Effects of the Planning of U.S.-Mexico Border Fence on Marginalized Populations”
Wilson, J. Gaines; et al. Southwestern Geographer, 2010.
This study, from researchers at several Texas universities, examines the “social justice impacts” of a DHS plan to erect border fence in certain parts of Texas. Researchers looked specifically at the plan outlined in the DHS’ November 2007 Environmental Impact Statement for the Rio Grande Valley Sector. They focused on the path of the fence through Cameron County, Texas, comparing locations where the USDHS planned to erect fence and locations where they planned to leave gaps. They considered how the project would affect individuals’ use and ownership of the land.
The authors find that the plan, which was later amended, would have had a disproportionate impact on people with lower incomes and education levels as well as Hispanics and people who were not U.S. citizens. The researchers note that it does not appear the federal government studied how the fence would affect communities before devising its plan. The DHS “did not show sufficient due diligence in understanding and mitigating any disparate impacts,” the authors write, adding that DHS “acknowledged that the general placement of the fence along the Mexican border ensures that poor Hispanic immigrant families are those most likely to be affected by its construction.”
The researchers write that although the fence route eventually changed, but they are not clear how it changed. The DHS “has not provided any information indicating that the route changed substantially or that the government considered the characteristics of those who were impacted in making changes to the location of the fence,” they explain.
Environmental impacts
“Border Fences and their Impacts on Large Carnivores, Large Herbivores and Biodiversity: An International Wildlife Law Perspective”
Trouwborst, Arie; Fleurke, Floor; Dubrulle, Jennifer. Review of European Comparative & International Environmental Law, 2016.
This article, which appears in an international law journal, examines border fences’ impact on wildlife and natural habitats from an international law and policy perspective. The authors explain that the characteristics of each type of barrier affects wildlife differently. Existing barriers are made of a range of materials, including concrete, sand, barbed or razor wire and electrified fencing. In some cases, metal walls extend underground. Some fencing strategies involve land mines.
Barriers are of particular concern in Central Asia, home to a variety of migratory and nomadic mammals, the authors write. “By splitting populations, impeding migrations and killing animals attempting to cross, border fences pose an actual or potential threat to many of these, including the Mongolian gazelle (Procapra gutturosa), saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica), Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus, also known as khulan), Bactrian camel (Camelus ferus), argali sheep (Ovis ammon) and snow leopard (Panthera uncia),” they write.
The scholars point out that current laws and policies could be improved to prevent and ameliorate the impacts of border barriers worldwide. Barriers “have the potential to undo decades of conservation and international collaboration efforts, and their proliferation entails a need to realign our conservation paradigms with the political reality on the ground,” they write.
“Nature Divided, Scientists United: US–Mexico Border Wall Threatens Biodiversity and Binational Conservation”
Peters, Robert; et al. BioScience, October 2018.
This call to action, which criticizes the U.S.-Mexico border barrier and Trump’s proposed expansion of it, was signed by more than 2,500 scientists representing dozens of countries, including 1,472 from the U.S. and 616 from Mexico. It stresses the barrier’s “negative impacts on wildlife, habitat, and binational collaboration in conservation and scientific research” and offers recommendations for limiting harm.
The authors explain that a continuous border wall or fence “could disconnect more than 34 percent of U.S. nonflying native terrestrial and freshwater animal species (n = 346) from the 50 percent or more of their range that lies south of the border.” They complain that the border barrier and security operations have obstructed scientific research. “U.S. and Mexican scientists have shared distressing stories of being intimidated, harassed, and delayed by border security officers,” they write.
The scientists offer four recommendations for moving forward, the first of which is for Congress to make sure DHS follows federal environmental laws. “Any future appropriations for border barrier construction and operations should require adherence to all environmental laws and preclude their waiver,” the authors write. “In areas where the DHS has already issued waivers, we call on the DHS to carry out analysis, mitigation, and opportunities for public participation as prescribed by all relevant environmental laws.”
The remaining three recommendations focus on performing surveys to identify species and habitats at risk, avoiding barriers in areas with “high ecological sensitivity” and facilitating “scientific research in the borderlands to complement and assist environmental evaluation and mitigation efforts.”
“Border Security Fencing and Wildlife: The End of the Transboundary Paradigm in Eurasia?”
Linnell, John D.C.; et al. PLOS Biology, June 2016.
In this peer-reviewed article, scientists from Europe and Asia offer their views on how wildlife are harmed by border fencing in Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. They specifically discuss the impact on bears, lynx and wolves in Slovenia and Croatia and on khulan and other large herbivores in the southeast Gobi.
The authors point out that they had difficulty finding information on border fences in these regions, especially details on exact location, length and construction of the fencing. “Unfortunately, a systematic overview of these details is lacking, making it impossible to conduct any form of spatially explicit analysis of the real fragmentation effect of these structures,” they write. “There are likely to be very different effects of structures on different species, migratory large herbivores and large carnivores being most affected.”
Another main takeaway: The researchers estimated there is a total of 30,000 kilometers of border fencing in the study area and that Central Asia is one of the most heavily fenced regions on the planet.
The authors stress the need for scientists and policymakers to work together. “The opportunities for transboundary cooperation in wildlife conservation are shrinking in many regions,” they write. “When examining the geopolitical situation and the very real security challenges that some countries in Eurasia are facing at the moment, it seems likely that many of these fences are here to stay and that more are likely to appear, while existing fences are strengthened. This means that conservationists will have to recognise the potential impacts of these fences and adapt population management accordingly.”
*Based at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Journalist’s Resource examines news topics through a research lens. We curate and summarize scholarship relevant to media practitioners, bloggers, educators, students and general readers. Our philosophy is that peer-reviewed research studies can, at the very least, help anchor journalists as they navigate difficult terrain and competing claims. In 2013 the American Library Association named us one of the best free reference Web sites.
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