Global wildlife populations dropped 69 percent since 1970, says study

According to a report released on Thursday, as a result of forest clearing and ocean pollution, wildlife numbers around the world have decreased by more than two-thirds since 1970.

The director of conservation and strategy at the Zoological Society of London, Andrew Terry, stated that this "serious drop … tells us that nature is unravelling and the natural world is emptying," (ZSL).

Using data from ZSL from 2018 on the state of 32,000 wildlife populations representing more than 5,000 species, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) research revealed that population sizes had decreased by an average of 69 per cent. The primary causes of the loss included deforestation, abuse of humans, pollution, and climate change.

Latin America and the Caribbean were particularly heavily struck, with a 94% decline in wildlife populations in just five decades. According to the findings, between 1994 and 2016, one population of pink river dolphins in the Brazilian Amazon experienced a 65% decline.

The results showed that wildlife population levels were still declining at a pace of roughly 2.5% annually, which was consistent with the findings of WWF's most recent assessment in 2020, Terry said.

"Nature was in dire straits and it is still in dire straits," said Mark Wright, director of science at WWF-UK. "The war is definitely being lost."

An urgent need for support

The report did provide a few glimmerings of hope. Due to bushmeat hunting, the number of eastern lowland gorillas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Kahuzi-Biega National Park decreased by 80% between 1994 and 2019 while that of mountain gorillas close to Virunga National Park climbed from 400 to over 600 by 2018.

Nevertheless, the widespread decrease has led to frantic cries for more protection of the environment.

Delegates from all across the world will assemble in Montreal in December to work out a new global plan of action to safeguard the planet's flora and animals.

Increased funding for international conservation efforts is perhaps one of the biggest requests.

Alice Ruhweza, regional director for WWF in Africa, stated that "We are calling on the rich nations to provide financial support to us to protect our nature."

(With inputs from Reuters)