Earth lost 50% of its wildlife in the past 40 years, says WWF
Species across land, rivers and seas decimated as humans kill for food in unsustainable numbers and destroy habitats
“This damage is not inevitable but a consequence of the way we choose to live.
The fastest decline among the animal populations were found in freshwater ecosystems, where numbers have plummeted by 75% and the number of animals living on the land has fallen by 40% since 1970.
Marine animal populations have also fallen by 40% overall, with turtles suffering in particular.
The biggest declines in animal numbers have been seen in low-income, developing nations, while conservation efforts in rich nations have seen small improvements overall. But the big declines in wildlife in rich nations had already occurred long before the new report’s baseline year of 1970 – the last wolf in the UK was shot in 1680.
Also, by importing food and other goods produced via habitat destruction in developing nations, rich nations are “outsourcing” wildlife decline to those countries. For example, a third of all the products of deforestation such as timber, beef and soya were exported to the EU between 1990 and 2008.
The scale of the destruction highlighted in this report should be a wake-up call for us all.”