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World populations of animals, birds and fish have plummeted more than two-thirds in less than 50 years due to rampant overconsumption, experts said today in a stark warning to save nature to save ourselves.
The Living Planet Index, which tracks more than 4,000 species of vertebrates, warns that increased deforestation and agricultural expansion were the key factors behind a 68% average decline in populations between 1970 and 2016.
It warns that the continued loss of natural habitat increases the risk of future pandemics as humans expand their presence into ever closer contact with wild animals.
Human activity has severely degraded three-quarters of all the earth and 40% of the Earth’s oceans, and our accelerating destruction of nature is likely to have incalculable consequences on our health and livelihoods.
The 2020 Living Planet Report, a collaboration between WWF International and the Zoological Society of London, is the thirteenth edition of the biennial publication that tracks wildlife populations around the world.
WWF International CEO Marco Lambertini spoke of the staggering loss of Earth’s biodiversity since 1970.
“It is an accelerating decline that we have been monitoring for 30 years and it continues to go in the wrong direction,” he said.
“In 2016 we documented a 60% decrease, now we have a 70% decrease.
“All this is in the blink of an eye compared to the millions of years that many species have lived on the planet.”
‘Amazing’ fall
The last half decade has witnessed unprecedented economic growth supported by an explosion in the global consumption of natural resources.
While until 1970, humanity’s ecological footprint was less than the Earth’s ability to regenerate resources, the WWF now estimates that we are using more than half the planet’s capacity.
Although with the help of factors such as invasive species and pollution, the main factor of species loss is changes in land use, such as the conversion of forests or grasslands to farms.
This comes at a huge price for wild species, which lose their homes. But it also requires unsustainable levels of resources to maintain: one-third of all land mass and three-quarters of all fresh water are now used for food production.
The picture is just as dire in the ocean, where 75% of fish stocks are overfished.
And while wildlife is rapidly declining, species are disappearing faster in some places than others.
The index shows that the tropical regions of Central and South America had experienced a 94% drop in species since 1970.
“It’s amazing. Ultimately, it is an indicator of our impact on the natural world,” Lambertini said.
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