A dramatic loss of wildlife on the planet
Wildlife populations around the world have declined by more than half since the 1970s, a new environmental report warns.
Elephants, wolves and salamanders are among the creatures affected, and human activity is largely to blame, the report says.
The numbers of mammals, birds and fish fell an average of 58% from 1970 to 2012, the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) said in The Living Planet report published Thursday.
Ken Norris, director of science at ZSL, said human behavior continues to drive the decline in wildlife, particularly in freshwater habitats.
Specifically, issues such as farming, fishing, poaching, wildlife trafficking, mining, climate change and pollution are pushing wildlife “to the edge,” the report said.
“Importantly, however, these are declines — they are not yet extinctions — and this should be a wake-up call to marshal efforts to promote the recovery of these populations,” Norris said.
Wildlife populations could decline by 67% compared with 1970 by the end of the decade if nothing is done, the report said.
“For decades scientists have been warning that human actions are pushing life on our shared planet toward a sixth mass extinction.
Evidence in this year’s Living Planet Report supports this,” said Marco Lambertini, WWF director general.
“We are feeling the impact of a sick planet ... all increasingly suffering from environmental degradation,” he added.
Population has shrunk by more than half since the 1970s, and humans are to blame, report says