Animal populations have shrunk by 69% in 50 years – report

Animal populations around the world have plummeted by nearly 70% over the last 50 years, according to the latest scientific assessment, driven by climate change, habitat degradation and loss, invasive species and disease.
The abundance of mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians have been falling since the 1970s, according to the Living Planet Report (LPR) 2022, a leading scientific report published by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
With its biggest dataset yet, featuring almost 32,000 populations of 5,230 species, the Living Planet Index (LPI), provided within the report by ZSL, shows it is within tropical regions that monitored vertebrate wildlife populations are plummeting at a particularly staggering rate. WWF is extremely concerned about this trend given that these geographical areas are some of the most biodiverse in the world.
In less than a lifetime, monitored freshwater populations have fallen by an average of 83%, the largest decline of any species group. Habitat loss and barriers to migration routes are responsible for about half of the threats to monitored migratory fish species.
“The Living Planet Report 2022 reflects the continued decline of key species and biodiversity loss. Africa recorded a decline of 66% in wildlife populations since 1970, with Kenya falling in the threat hotspots region because of the decline of key species and degradation of key habitats. When you see a 66% decline in Africa, it doesn’t mean we are doing better. It means we are not as badly affected as in some places,” said Drew McVey, Wildlife Crime Initiative Technical Advisor for East Africa, WWF.
Commenting on the findings during the report launch on Thursday in Kenya, Jackson Kiplagat, Head of Conservation Programmes at WWF-Kenya, said “We need to create and move from dealing with events to addressing system tipping dynamics where we have agents of change and a mix of interventions that can trigger and potentially accelerate transformative pathways to sustainable use and production. The Living Planet Report proposes that we create enabling conditions and look for leveraged points that can help drive the agents of change to deliver more. To reverse nature loss and achieve recovery of key species, we will require ambitious commitments nationally and more importantly from world leaders at the next 15th Conference of Parties to the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) in Montreal, Canada and The 27th session of the Conference of Parties (COP 27) to the UNFCCC in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.”
World leaders are due to meet at the CBD COP15 this December for a once-in-a-decade opportunity to course-correct for the sake of people and the planet. WWF is advocating for leaders to commit to a ‘Paris-style’ agreement capable of reversing biodiversity loss to secure a nature-positive world by 2030.
“The LPR report makes clear that delivering a nature-positive future will not be possible without recognising and respecting the rights, governance, and conservation leadership of Indigenous Peoples and local communities around the world,” said Alice Ruhweza, Africa Regional Director, WWF-International.
“We are the generation who inherited the world from pioneers of yesteryears and our great contribution will be anchored on sustainability. It is a race against time to save what is left of our home. Every minute counts. Just like in a marathon,” Dr. Eliud Kipchoge, renowned world marathon and nature champion.
The report argues that increasing conservation and restoration efforts, producing and consuming food in particular more sustainably, and rapidly and deeply decarbonising all sectors can mitigate the twin crises. The authors call on policymakers to transform economies so that natural resources are properly valued.