WWF's "Living Planet" report reveals a catastrophic 69% decline in wildlife populations in a few decades

Posted on 23 November 2022

Tropical regions are seeing wildlife populations collapse at an alarming rate
Freshwater species populations have fallen by 83%.
The report's Living Planet Index shows that there is no time to lose in building a nature-friendly society.

The report highlights the bleak outlook for the state of nature and provides an urgent warning to governments, businesses and the public to take transformative action to reverse the destruction of biodiversity.

With its largest dataset to date, including nearly 32,000 populations of 5,230 species, the Living Planet Index (LPI), provided in the report by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), shows that it is in the tropics that monitored vertebrate populations are disappearing at a particularly alarming rate. WWF is extremely concerned about this trend, given that these geographic areas are among the richest in biodiversity in the world. In particular, LPI data reveals that between 1970 and 2018, populations of monitored wildlife species in Latin America and the Caribbean region have fallen by an average of 94%.

In less than a few decades, monitored freshwater populations have declined by an average of 83%, the largest decline of any species group. Habitat loss and barriers to migration routes account for about half of the threats to monitored migratory fish species.

In Madagascar, for example, Mrs. Berthe's Microcebus berthae, the world's smallest primate and one of the world's 25 most endangered primates, could be "the first primate to become extinct in the 21st century," according to Jonah Ratsimbazafy, president of the Groupe d'études et de recherche sur les primates (Gerp). This protected area, like all the others, is a victim of deforestation. The figures speak for themselves: according to the National Coordination Office REDD+ Madagascar: between 2000 and 2019 (on average about 120,000 ha per year of clearing), and between 2013 and 2018 (in 5 years): 424,244 ha; that is to say, about 90,000 ha/year of cleared forests. (Report on the Analysis of the Drivers of Deforestation and Degradation in the Eastern Rainforest and Western Dry Forest Ecoregions of Madagascar).

World leaders will meet this December at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15), a unique opportunity to make things right for people and the planet. WWF is advocating for leaders to commit to a "Paris Agreement"-style agreement that can reverse biodiversity loss to ensure a nature positive world by 2030.

"At the COP15 biodiversity conference in December, leaders will have the opportunity to reset our broken relationship with the natural world and ensure a healthier, more sustainable future for all through an ambitious, nature-friendly global biodiversity agreement," said Dr. Lambertini. "In the face of a resurgent nature crisis, it is critical that this agreement results in immediate action on the ground, including transforming the sectors responsible for nature loss and providing financial support to developing countries."

The LPR report makes clear that a positive future for nature will not be possible without recognizing and respecting the rights, governance and conservation leadership of indigenous peoples and local communities around the world.

The report argues that scaling up conservation and restoration efforts, more sustainable food production and consumption in particular, and rapid and deep decarbonization of all sectors can mitigate both crises. The authors call on policymakers to transform economies so that natural resources are properly valued.

Follow the official launch of the Living Planet Report in Madagascar at the link: https://bit.ly/3tX8b4q