• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Environment

World Wildlife Plummets More Than Two-Thirds in 50 Years: Index

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
09/11/20
in Environment
Rhinos in the Kahya Ndlovu Lodge in Hoedspruit, South Africa

Continued natural habitat loss will increase the risk of future pandemics as humans expand their presence into ever closer contact with wild animals. Photo: Mujahid Safodien/AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Global animal, bird, and fish populations have plummeted more than two-thirds in less than 50 years due to rampant over-consumption, experts said Thursday in a stark warning to save nature in order to save ourselves.

Human activity has severely degraded three-quarters of all land and 40 percent of Earth’s oceans, and our quickening destruction of nature is likely to have untold consequences on our health and livelihoods. 

The Living Planet Index, which tracks more than 4,000 species of vertebrates, warned that increasing deforestation and agricultural expansion were the key drivers behind a 68 percent average decline in populations between 1970 and 2016. 

It warned that continued natural habitat loss increased the risk of future pandemics as humans expand their presence into ever closer contact with wild animals.

2020’s Living Planet Report, a collaboration between WWF International and the Zoological Society of London, is the 13th edition of the biennial publication tracking wildlife populations around the world.

WWF International director general Marco Lambertini told AFP of the staggering loss of Earth’s biodiversity since 1970. 

“It’s an accelerating decrease that we’ve been monitoring for 30 years and it continues to go in the wrong direction,” he said. 

“In 2016 we documented a 60 percent decline, now we have a 70 percent decline. 

“All this is in a blink of an eye compared to the millions of years that many species have been living on the planet,” Lambertini added.

‘Staggering’ Fall

The last half-decade has seen unprecedented economic growth underpinned by an explosion in the global consumption of natural resources. 

Whereas until 1970, humanity’s ecological footprint was smaller than the Earth’s capacity to regenerate resources, the WWF now calculates we are overusing the planet’s capacity by more than half. 

It’s hard to focus on any other issues when you see this. Wtf are we doing to ourselves?

‘Global animal, bird and fish populations have plummeted more than two-thirds in less than 50 years due to rampant over-consumption.’https://t.co/Kz9tFuvvg2

— Saffron Howden (@saffronhowden) September 10, 2020

While aided by factors such as invasive species and pollution, the biggest single driver of species lost is land-use changes: normally, industry converting forests or grasslands into farms. 

This takes an immense toll on wild species, who lose their homes. 

But it also requires unsustainable levels of resources to uphold: one-third of all landmass and three-quarters of all freshwater are now dedicated to producing food. 

The picture is equally dire in the ocean, where 75 percent of fish stocks are over exploited.

And while wildlife is declining rapidly, species are disappearing faster in some places than others. 

The index showed that the tropical regions of Central and South America had seen a 94 percent fall in species since 1970. 

“It is staggering. It is ultimately an indicator of our impact on the natural world,” said Lambertini. 

‘From Sad to Worried’

The Living Planet update comes alongside a study co-authored by more than 40 NGOs and academic institutions, which lays out ways of arresting and reversing the losses human consumption has inflicted.

The research, published in the journal Nature, suggests that reducing food waste and favoring healthier and more environmentally friendly diets could help to “bend the curve” of degradation.

Coupled with radical conservation efforts, these measures could avert more than two-thirds of future biodiversity loss, the authors suggested. 

“We need to act now. Rates of biodiversity recovery are typically much slower than those of recent biodiversity loss,” said lead study author David Leclere, research scholar at the International Institute of Applied System Analysis. 

“This implies that any delay in action will allow further biodiversity losses that might take decades to restore.”

Leclere also warned of “irreversible” losses to biodiversity, such as when a species goes extinct. 

Lambertini said that, like public discourse on climate change, societies are increasingly concerned about the links between the health of the planet and human well-being.

“From being sad about losing nature, people are beginning to actually get worried,” he said. 

“We still have a moral duty to co-exist with life on the planet, but there’s now this new element of impact on our society, our economy and, of course, our health.”

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

Customers queue to enter a re-opened Zara clothes shop
Environment

EU Targets Fast Fashion in Push for Durable Goods

by Staff Writer
May 23, 2023
This aerial photograph taken on May 6, 2023 shows a landslide that engulfed Nyamukubi village, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
National

Toll From DR Congo Floods Rises to Nearly 400: Official

by Staff Writer
May 8, 2023
A flooded road in Batu Berendam in Malaysia's southern coastal state of Malacca
Environment

At Least Four Dead, Tens of Thousands Evacuated in Malaysia Floods

by Staff Writer
March 6, 2023
deforestation
Environment

Major Firms Not Doing Enough to Curb Deforestation: Report

by Staff Writer
February 15, 2023
People cool off with a fountain's water during a heat wave in Seville, Spain
Environment

UN Confirms 2022 Among Eight Hottest Years on Record

by Staff Writer
January 13, 2023
Shell
Environment

Greenpeace Sues UK Government Over Shell Gas Field

by Staff Writer
July 27, 2022
Next Post
Cosmas Mutethia's wife (R) wears a mask with her husband's name, who was killed by Kenyan police during a night curfew, as she carries an empty coffin during their protest against police brutality in front of the Kenyan Parliament in Nairobi on June 9, 2020.

African Regimes Are Using COVID-19 to Stifle the Third Wave of Protests

Utah Royals FC stand as teammates kneel for the national anthem before a game

The Day That Sports Disappeared

Please login to join discussion

Recommended

A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather on the West side of the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021

Militia Leader Gets 18 Years in Prison Over US Capitol Attack

May 26, 2023
Customers queue to enter a re-opened Zara clothes shop

EU Targets Fast Fashion in Push for Durable Goods

May 23, 2023
A billboard showing the debt limit is seen in Washington, D.C.

US Republicans Upbeat on Prospects for Debt Deal

May 19, 2023
Military hardware rolls through Dvortsovaya Square during a Victory Day military parade in central Saint Petersburg

Pressing Russia, US Shares Nuclear Warhead Data Under Treaty

May 16, 2023
A man holding a gun

The NRA’s Continuing Agenda of Fear

May 12, 2023
US Panel Recommends Nonprescription Use of Contraception Pill

US Panel Recommends Nonprescription Use of Contraception Pill

May 11, 2023

Opinion

A man holding a gun

The NRA’s Continuing Agenda of Fear

May 12, 2023
US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

A Supreme Folly 

April 24, 2023
Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker speaks to protesters in Times Square near a military recruitment centre

Tennessee Is A Drag on the First Amendment

March 26, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
An earthquake survivor reacts as rescuers look for victims and other survivors in Hatay, a Turkish province where hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake

Heed the Call of Our Broken World

March 1, 2023
Top view of the US House of Representatives

‘Cringy Awards:’ Who Is the Most Embarrassing US House Representative?

February 13, 2023
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post