Wednesday 9 October 2019

USA and Mexico Border Wall May Pose Environmental Threat


The much needed wall between USA and Mexico is being built right now. Bulldozers and excavators are creating the space to build the new wall. The wall may come with great environmental costs. The wall is a $5 billion commitment by USA President Donald Trump to prevent illegal asylum seekers from getting into the USA.

Wildlife could be affected. Work on the border wall, fences and related infrastructure, such as roads, fragments habitat, erodes soil, changes fire regimes and alters hydrological processes by sometimes causing floods.

About 650 miles of the border wall already exist. Most of it has been built on federal land where the terrain provides no natural barrier. The complete wall would extend into lands that include important habitats for wildlife.

This wall would have no windows. It is made of non-combustible material such as concrete, cement block, brick, or fire rated drywall. Wall penetrations would be sealed with special materials.

The complete USA-Mexico Wall would be about 2,000 miles.

The Great Wall of China is the longest in the world. Thanks to modern measuring techniques, the total length has been finally revealed, as 21,196.18 kilometers (13,170.70 miles).

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