Earth lost 50 % of wildlife populations in 4 decades: Report

A new report has revealed that global wildlife population has been halved in 40 years.

The London Zoological Society (ZSL) said that in its new Living Planet Index that populations of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish have declined by an average of 52 percent, while populations of freshwater species have suffered an even worse fall of 76 percent, the BBC reported.

The team at the zoological society said that they've improved their methodology since their last report two years ago - but the results are even more alarming and estimated that wildlife was down "only" around 30 percent.

The report shows that the biggest recorded threat to biodiversity comes from the combined impacts of habitat loss and degradation, driven by what WWF calls unsustainable human consumption and notes that the impacts of climate change are becoming of increasing concern - although the effect of climate change on species until now is disputed.