President Trump’s promised border wall is one of the most serious and pressing threats to the ecological sustainability of the Sonoran Desert. Information on the impact of border walls on local communities, wildlife, and ecosystems worldwide is scattered across the Internet in various academic libraries, most of which are available only to professional academics.
Until now. We are very excited to announce the upcoming publication of our “Tinaja Project,” an online bibliography of almost 600 published resources, that addresses and evaluates the impact of border walls on the ecosystems they bisect. The Tinaja Project’s scope is global and provides insight into what a border wall means – for both wild organisms and human communities. For example, perusers of this database can learn about the effects of China’s Great Wall on plant genetics, the lasting effects of border walls on animal migration (even decades after the barriers have been removed), and the relative failure of border walls to reduce smuggling.
Knowledge is power, and it is our hope that the Tinaja Project bibliography will empower lawmakers, activists, and the concerned public to use published scientific findings to make informed, responsible decisions about placing a border wall in the heart of the Sonoran Desert ecosystem.
We hope to publish this bibliography by March, 2018, at which time this tool will become available to the public. Click here if you would like to make a donation to help us update, maintain, and keep this resource available online.