Wild Animal Populations Have Declined 69% in 50 Years, Says WWF
The World Wildlife Fund calls the global drop “staggering” and warns of a two-fold crisis of biodiversity loss and climate change.
Black-tip sharks swim near Durban, South Africa.
Photographer: Michele Spatari/AFP/Getty Images
The world’s populations of wild mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have declined by more than two-thirds on average since 1970, according to a grim new report on biodiversity loss.
The Living Planet Report, released every two years since 1998 by the World Wildlife Fund, looks at how 32,000 populations of more than 5,000 species around the globe are faring by measuring their populations’ growth or decline. “Declines in abundance are early warning indicators of overall ecosystem health, and serious drops like this tell us that nature is unraveling,” states the report, which was produced in collaboration with the Zoological Society of London.