Artificial light at night can disrupt critical behaviours in wildlife. In threatened species, artificial light has the potential to stall the recovery of a population. Where it occurs in migratory species, the impact of light may compromise an animal’s ability to undertake long distance migrations integral to their life cycle. Hatchling marine turtles may not be able to find the ocean when beaches are lit, fledgling seabirds may not take their first flight if their nesting habitat never becomes dark, and clownfish eggs incubated under light do not hatch.
To address this challenge, the Australian Government developed the National Light Pollution Guidelines for Wildlife. These Guidelines raise awareness about the impacts of artificial light on wildlife, provide a framework for assessing and managing these impacts and provide six best practice principles for managing light pollution. The guidelines also provide taxa group considerations, mitigation technologies and techniques for marine turtles, seabirds, migratory shorebirds and will soon include ecological communities, bats and terrestrial mammals.
The Australian Government has received wide support from members of the public, councils, and environmental organisations. The Guidelines were endorsed by the 133 countries that are party to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.