WWF report says reason for hope despite wildlife population decline

The World Wide Fund for Nature’s latest Living Planet Report published on Thursday has found that average monitored wildlife populations across the world show a continued decline of 73 per cent since 1970.

Its ‌Living Planet Index monitored a total of 35,803 populations covering 5,790 different species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish over a ​52-year period.

The index shows that monitored marine ​species fell 59 per cent, freshwater species ​saw an average decline of 85 per cent, and terrestrial species fell 69 per cent.

Habitat loss and degradation is the most frequently reported threat, followed by overexploitation, climate change, pollution, invasive species, and disease.

Latin America and the Caribbean saw the steepest regional decline at 95 per cent, while Africa experienced an 80 per cent drop.

But its report, titled “Science of Hope”, said that amid the declines, there are grounds for hope, with revival within reach.

“The science is telling us that although humanity has done the most appalling things to this planet for many decades, it’s not too late,” says Mike Barrett, chief scientific advisor at WWF and the report’s lead author.

Recovery of tigers, turtles, tuna, and elephants demonstrate that it is still possible to reverse the global loss of nature when action is taken.

For example, in Africa, targeted conservation efforts have enabled populations including the black rhino and southern ​African elephants to recover.

Countries in the region have built legal frameworks that give local communities direct stakes in elephant stewardship through community-based natural resource management.

These on-the ground efforts are reinforced by anti-trafficking work, judicial reform, and reduced corruption, the report said.

However, work like this is not enough it said. These successes remain fragile and the challenge is no longer identifying solutions but delivering them at the speed and scale needed.

Nature loss is not only an environmental challenge but an economic and societal one, it said, with half of global GDP dependent on nature in some way.

In 2023, around $7.3 trillion flowed into activities which harm nature, while only $220 billion went towards activities that protect or restore it.

The WWF says changes in the energy, food, and finance systems are ​required to halt nature loss, with governments, businesses, organisations, and communities all having a role to play.