50% WILDLIFE WIPED OUT SINCE 1970
WWF REPORT BLAMES LOSS OF HABITAT, CLIMATE CHANGE
GENEVA: The world populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles fell overall by 52% between 1970 and 2010, far faster than previously thought, the World Wildlife Fund said on Tuesday.
The conservation group’s Living Planet Report, published every two years, said humankind’s demands were now 50% more than nature can bear, with trees being felled, groundwater pumped and carbon dioxide emitted faster than Earth can recover.
“This damage is not inevitable but a consequence of the way we choose to live,” Ken Norris, Director of Science at the Zoological Society of London, said.
However, there was still hope if politicians and businesses took the right action to protect nature, the report said.
“It is essential that we seize the opportunity — while we still can — to develop sustainably and create a future where people can live and prosper in harmony with nature,” said WWF International Director General Marco Lambertini.
The report’s finding on the populations of vertebrate wildlife found that the biggest declines were in tropical regions, especially Latin America. The WWF’s so-called “Living Planet Index” is based on trends in 10,380 populations of 3,038 mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian and fish species.
The main reasons for declining populations were the loss of natural habitats, exploitation through hunting or fishing, and climate change. To gauge the variations between different countries’ environmental impact, the report measured how big an “ecological footprint” each one had and how much productive land and water area, or “biocapacity”, each country accounted for. Kuwaitis had the biggest ecological footprint, meaning they consume and waste more resources per head than any other nation, the report said, followed by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Many poorer countries — including India, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo — had an ecological footprint that was well within the planet’s ability to absorb their demands.