Wildlife continues to suffer worldwide. The groups they live in are getting smaller and smaller. In the Living Planet Report released last night, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says populations have declined 69 percent since 1970.

The decline comes as wildlife habitats come under pressure from agriculture, climate change, overfishing, poaching and pollution.

In tropical areas, the group size of wild animals decreases the most. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the population shrank by an average of 94 percent between 1970 and 2018.

In freshwater, too, the decline is large at an average of 83 percent. This is due to habitat loss, but also to obstacles such as weirs and dams in rivers. This also applies to fish and other freshwater animals in Dutch rivers.

Ever more complete picture

The conservation organization publishes the report every two years. Nearly 100 scientists from around the world track wildlife statistics, e.g. B. how many there are and where they live. New groups are added with each study, so the picture becomes more and more complete.

This year’s report examined 32,000 populations of 5,230 wildlife species, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. This data has been kept since 1970.

connection with climate change

In the report, the WWF establishes a connection between climate change and the loss of biodiversity. Both are inextricably linked, says meteorologist Reinier van den Berg, ambassador of the WWF.

“Climate change is having a major impact on nature and biodiversity. Heat, drought, forest fires but also floods are the fingerprints of the warming earth. Conversely, nature’s recovery can significantly slow down climate change. For example, the protection of forests can not only ensure a lot of CO2 storage, but also to reduce drought and heat tempering.”

With the report, the WWF wants to warn governments, companies and the public to take drastic measures now to reverse the decline in biodiversity. The aim is to protect 30 percent of global natural areas by 2030 in such a way that they are no longer damaged and can recover. Currently, 14.6 percent of the world’s land area is designated as protected.