Nature is in “free fall” as a result of human activity, with global wildlife populations falling by almost three-quarters in 50 years, conservationists warn.
The world is rapidly approaching a dangerous and irreversible “tipping point” in natural systems such as the Amazon rainforest and polar ice caps, posing serious threats to humans and wildlife, according to a new report from conservation charity WWF.
The latest edition of the Living Planet Index, compiled by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), warns that monitored global amphibian, bird, fish, mammal and reptile populations have declined by an average of 73% over the past 50 years.
tipping point
This decline has been caused by human activities, such as destruction of habitats for food production, and is now being exacerbated by climate change.
The index forms part of WWF’s latest Living Planet report, which calls for urgent action to transform the food production, energy and financial systems behind the decline of the nature we depend on for human survival.
The report, published as countries prepare for the UN Cop16 and Cop29 conferences on nature and climate, warns that a tipping point is fast approaching where impacts on the natural world will reach a breaking point, triggering major, potentially irreversible changes.
This includes the mass extinction of corals that destroys fisheries and protects millions of people in coastal communities from storms, while the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets melt, causing sea levels to rise by several metres.
In the Amazon, deforestation and climate change could mark a tipping point where rainforests are no longer suitable, releasing huge amounts of carbon and altering global weather patterns.
tumbling
The Living Planet Index, based on data from 35,000 population trends and 5,495 species, found that Latin America and the Caribbean experienced the fastest decline in wildlife, with average wildlife populations falling by 95% over 50 years. .
The report said that while the decline was less dramatic in Europe and North America, it reflected large-scale impacts on nature already occurring in some parts of the world before 1970.
Mike Barrett, WWF chief scientific adviser, said the 73% decline was “really shocking”.
“Not only the Living Planet Index but all other globally recognized indicators tell the same story: population abundance, species diversity, extinction rates, and the extent and integrity of natural habitats. “It’s in free fall,” he said.
The report highlights rapid increases in populations of creatures ranging from female hawksbill turtles nesting on the Great Barrier Reef to Amazonian pink river dolphins in Brazil.
harmful
It also highlights some conservation bright spots, such as the increase in mountain gorillas in East Africa’s Virunga Mountains and the return of European bison populations in central Europe, but warns that against a backdrop of widespread habitat destruction, these alone are not enough.
