Climate change in New Mexico

In the coming decades, our changing climate is likely to decrease the flow of water in the Colorado, Rio Grande, and other rivers; threaten the health of livestock; increase the frequency and intensity of wildfires; and convert some rangelands to desert".

Reduced water availability would create challenges for ranchers, as well as farmers who irrigate fruits, vegetables, pecans, and other nut trees".

[1] "Higher temperatures and drought are likely to increase the severity, frequency, and extent of wildfires, which could harm property, livelihoods, and human health.

A warmer and a drier climate would generally extend the Chihuahuan desert to higher elevations and expand its geographic range.

In other cases, fires or livestock grazing may accelerate the conversion of grassland to desert in response to the changing climate.

Drought reduces the ability of trees to mount a defense against attacks from pests such as bark beetles, which have infested 200,000 acres in New Mexico.

High air temperatures can cause heat stroke and dehydration, and affect people’s cardiovascular, respiratory, and nervous systems.

Which subsequently since the 1970's New Mexico's average temperature has risen up by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit because of our lack of effort on reducing the production of greenhouse gasses.

Rising temperatures and increasing drought are likely to decrease the availability of certain fish, game, and wild plants on which the Navajo and other tribes have relied for generations.

On the Arizona portion of the Navajo Nation, for example, the Great Falls Dune Field has advanced almost a mile in the last 60 years, threatening roads, homes, and grazing areas.

[1] In January 2019, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an executive order on addressing climate change and energy waste prevention.

[7] From this order, New Mexico joined the United States Climate Alliance with a goal of lowering greenhouse gas emissions by 45% from 2005 levels by 2030.