Living Planet Report 2022 found drastic decline in the global wildlife population.
Key findings
- Living Planet Report 2022 is a joint endeavor of the World Wildlife Fund and Zoological Society of London.
- According to the flagship publication, there has been a 69 per cent decline in the global wildlife population between the years 1970 and 2018.
- This does not mean that 69 per cent of individual animals across the world has declined
- The report gives average of changes in population sizes of different species of animals and not of the number of creatures lost.
- It measures the relative size of the decline in each animal population and averages it.
- The report analyzed almost 32,000 populations of 5,230 species.
- Besides providing a broad picture of the dwindling wildlife population across the world, the Living Planet Report also highlighted the importance of dealing biodiversity loss and climate crisis as one rather than two different issues. The link between these two issues was highlighted for the first time in this report.
- According to the report, the Latin America and the Caribbean region, which hosts the Amazon Rainforest, witnessed the highest wildlife decline of 94 per cent between 1970 and 2018.
- Africa recorded the second highest decline of 66 per cent during the same period, followed by the Pacific (55 per cent).
- North America and Europe recorded lesser nature decline, falling by 20 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.
- The major threats faced by the terrestrial vertebrates are climate change, pollution, agriculture, hunting, logging and invasive species.
- The decline of vertebrate wildlife population is mainly seen in tropical regions of the world.
- Freshwater species population declined by 83 per cent. Majority of migratory fish species are facing the threat of habitat decline and barriers to migrations.
- Freshwater ecosystems are mainly threatened by the close proximity of human population, overfishing, water abstraction, pollution and breakdown of waterbody connectivity.
- According to the report, freshwater and tropical ecosystems are facing the worst of the crisis caused by human exploitation over the past half a century.