Wildlife populations around the world have dropped nearly 70 percent in the last 50 years, according to the latest World Wildlife Fund index, which says the culprits are habitat degradation due to human development, along with farming, pollution, climate change and disease.
The WWF Living Planet Index published Thursday highlights "devastating" losses to nature due to human activity.
Using 2018 data from the Zoological Society of London on the status of 32,000 wildlife populations covering more than 5,000 species of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish, the index found that population sizes had declined by an average of 69 percent since 1970.
Particularly vulnerable are freshwater animal species, whose populations dropped 83 percent since 1970, more than those in any other habitat.
Some regions hit more than others
Europe’s wildlife population declined 18 percent in the same period, whereas in Africa, where 70 percent of livelihoods rely on nature in some form, the index showed a two-thirds fall in wildlife populations since 1970.
In biodiversity-rich regions such as the Caribbean and Latin America, home to the Amazon rain forest, the amount of animal population loss is as high as 94 percent.
The index shows a “devastating fall in wildlife populations, in particular in tropical regions that are home to some of the most biodiverse landscapes in the world," said WWF International director general Marco Lambertini.
Mark Wright, director of science at WWF, said the figures were "truly frightening", particularly for Latin America, where the Amazon is “super important for regulating the climate. We estimate currently there's something like 150 to 200 billion tonnes of carbon wrapped up in the forests of the Amazon."
That is equivalent to 550 to 740 billion tonnes of CO2, or 10 to 15 times more than the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions at current rates.
Wildlife loss affects people
"We need to stress the fact that nature loss is not just a moral issue of our duty to protect the rest of the world. It is actually an issue of material value, an issue of security for humanity as well," said Lambertini.
Alice Ruhweza, Africa regional director at WWF, said the assessment showed how there was a "huge human cost" when nature is lost.
The Living Planet Report argues that increasing conservation and restoration efforts, producing and consuming food more sustainably, and rapidly decarbonising all sectors can alleviate the biodiversity crises, which is directly linked to climate change.
"Food systems today are responsible for over 80 percent of deforestation on land, and if you look at the ocean and freshwater they are also driving a collapse of fishery stocks and populations in those habitats," he said.
#BREAKING! Species population numbers have plummeted by 69% on average since 1970. 🚨
— WWF (@WWF) October 12, 2022
Nature is sending us an SOS: our life-line is in danger.💔
We need to turn things around – now. RT if you're with us #ForALivingPlanet! #LivingPlanet #LPR2022 pic.twitter.com/LovbPvSwC5
World biodiversity summit
World leaders are due to convene in Montreal in December for the Cop15 biodiversity summit, to come up with a new global strategy to protect the world's plants and animals.
The WWF index authors called for leaders at the summit to come up with an international, binding commitment to protect nature, similar to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.
It also calls for governments to properly factor into policymaking the value of services rendered by nature, such as food, medicine and water supply.
With funding being a major issue, Ruhweza called on “rich nations to provide financial support to us to protect our nature".
(with wires)
