Global populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have declined by over two-thirds in less than half a century.
Global populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have declined by over two-thirds in less than half a century, due in large part to the same environmental destruction that is contributing to the emergence of zoonotic diseases like COVID-19, according to a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report released today.
The WWF’s Living Planet Report 2020 presents a comprehensive overview of the state of our natural world as captured by the Living Planet Index (LPI) of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). Almost 21,000 populations of over 4,000 vertebrate species were tracked between 1970 and 2016, with contributions from over 125 experts from around the world.
“The Living Planet Report 2020 underlines how humanity’s increasing destruction of nature is having catastrophic impacts not only on wildlife populations, but on human health and all aspects of our lives,” said Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International.
He added: “In the midst of a global pandemic, it is now more important than ever to take unprecedented and coordinated global action to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity and wildlife populations across the globe by the end of the decade.”
Continue reading at University of Cambridge.
Image via NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring.
