The Living Planet Report is a comprehensive study of trends in global biodiversity and the health of the planet. It is released every two years by the WWF in partnership with ZSL (Zoological Society of London).
The report provides food for thought on the state of nature but it also urges government officials, businesses and the public to take immediate actions to prevent the appalling destruction of biodiversity.
“We know what’s happening, we know the risks and we know the solutions. What we urgently need now is a plan that unites the world in dealing with this existential challenge. A plan that is agreed globally and implemented locally. A plan that clearly sets a measurable and time-bound global goal for nature as the 2016 Paris accord, with the net-zero emissions goal by 2050, did for climate. But what can be the ‘net-zero emissions’ equivalent for biodiversity?” said Marco Lambertini, Director General WWF International, in a statement.
The report discusses two crises the Earth faces today – the climate and the biodiversity crises, which are not separate from each other but are two sides of the same coin. One follows the other. Currently, land-use change is the dominant driver of biodiversity loss. However, climate change is putting a significant burden on the natural world. The report, therefore, concludes that unless we limit warming to 1.5°C, climate change is going to turn into the major cause of biodiversity loss in the next decades to come.
ZSL’s Living Planet Index tracks trends in the abundance of mammals, fish, reptiles, birds and amphibians around the globe. Unfortunately, in 2022, it suggests an average 69% decrease in monitored wildlife populations between 1970 and 2018.
With its biggest dataset yet, featuring almost 32,000 populations of 5,230 species, the index suggests that monitored vertebrate wildlife populations are plummeting at a particularly staggering rate within tropical regions.
In particular, the average population abundance in Latin America went down 94%. At the same time, population trends for monitored freshwater species are also decreasing drastically – down 83%. Additionally, data shows that 26% of the Amazon is under a state of advanced disturbance, thus necessitating urgent actions to protect the 80% of the Amazon by 2025.
The report concludes that “transformational change – game-changing shifts – will be essential to bring
theory into practice.” However, system-wide changes in how we produce and consume as well as in how we use technology and finance are necessary.
