In 50 years, we have lost 69% of wildlife

This figure alone should lead us to ask ourselves “what are we doing to this planet?”: vertebrate populations on Earth, such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals or birds, have fallen by an average of 69% since 1970.

By closely observing the traces of this terrifying decline, clear footprints are found: those of man and his activities, accomplices of climate-altering emissions in the atmosphere and the devastating impact agriculture has had so far on biodiversity.

To trace a picture of the difficulties of millions of species and the ongoing biological crisis is the “Living Planet Report Wwf (LPR)”a study carried out globally by Wwf and published every two years, to account for what is happening to the planet’s wildlife.

The collapse of wildlife populations

The figures of 2022, with the integration of valuable statistics translated and arrived from that Brazil hosting theAmazoniadescribe the changes that occurred in ecosystems around the world between 1970 and 2018 thanks to the analysis of the Living Planet Index (LPI) data provided in the ZSL (Zoological Society of London) report.

They have been studied almost 32,000 populations of 5,230 vertebrate species, indicating for example how, especially in tropical regions – among the richest in biodiversity but also the most affected by the climate emergency – there has been a collapse in animal populations. The decline recorded in Latin America and the CaribbeanWildlife populations here have declined by an average of 94%. In the same period, in Africa there was a decline of 66%, while in the area ofAsia touched by the Pacific by 55%.

(Infographic by Gedi Visual)

Among the animals most affected absolutely from the changes and the impact of human activities there are freshwater populations: they fell by the83% and it is the worst decline of any group of species, due to habitat loss, fishing, barriers to migratory routes (only 37% of rivers longer than 1000 km remain free along their entire length) and other threats.

It doesn’t do better for some species that inhabit the seas: an example for all are sharks And Stingray, disappearing faster and faster, with populations declining by 71% over the past 50 years mainly due to an 18-fold increase in fishing pressure since 1970.

But the conditions of the fascinating are also dramatic pink river dolphins of the Amazon, whose populations collapsed by 65% ​​(between 1994 and 2016) in the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve, or the eastern lowland gorilla with an estimated decline of 80% (1994-2019) in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park of the Democratic Republic of the Congo or in the cubs of sea ​​lion of Australia southern and western, whose numbers dropped by two-thirds between 1977 and 2019.

We consume as if we had two planets

If we have reached such a decline of species it is also because we human beings exploit this planet as if there were two of them. The ecological footprint of humanity in fact exceeds the biocapacity of the Earththat is, the ability of its ecosystems to regenerate.

(Infographic by Gedi Visual)

If we look at the ecological footprint it emerges that humanity exploits the planet in excess for at least 75% (which is equivalent to using 1.75 planets) and this “erodes the health of the Earth and the prospects of humanity itself” the report recalls.

If, for example, we look atland use we do, the 60% is related to the carbon footprint and the 19% to that of cultivated land and these two figures alone return the impact we have on the planet (if instead we look at our footprint depending on the activity it is above all for food 30%, housing 22% and services 19%).

(Infographic by Gedi Visual)

Analyzing how much we consume on Earth depending on the population, it then emerges how in some areas of the globe we over-exploit resources. To live within the capacity of our planet, man’s ecological footprint should be less than biocapacity (1.6 global hectares per person). There are areas though, like United States or Australiawhere theecological footprint exceeds 6.4 global hectareswhich means that residents’ demand for food, urban areas or other factors is four times higher than that available per person.

A nature-positive society

According to the WWF, which presented the Living Planet report in Italy today at Villa Lubin in Rome, an immediate action of transformation is needed to reverse the dramatic loss of biodiversity “which, together with the emergence of human-induced climate change, threatens well-being. of current and future generations “.

To do this we have to build one “nature-positive society”following examples from Costa Rica of renewables to the protection projects of some areas ofAfrica point the way on how to limit global warming to 1.5 ° C and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.

The conference will take place in less than two months Cop15 of the United Nations Convention on biological diversity (and before that Cop27 on Climate), a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to guarantee an ambitious global plan that binds all governments to a series of common commitments to halt and reverse the decline of biodiversity”, underlines the WWF.

For Marco Lambertinidirector general of the international WWF, “at the conference on biodiversity, leaders will have the opportunity to reset our relationship with the natural world and offer a healthier and more sustainable future for all, with an ambitious global biodiversity agreement that is nature-positivefor example, through the transformation of sectors that cause the loss of nature, and financial support for developing countries “.

Andrew TerryDirector of Conservation and Policy of the Zoological Society of London, recalls instead how “half of the global economy and billions of people depend directly on nature. Prevent further loss of biodiversity and restore vital ecosystems it must be at the top of the global agendas to address the growing climate, environmental and public health crises. “

The problems to be tackled are growing: from the use we make of soil and sea to pollution, as well as the advance of alien species, poaching, deforestation and all the effects of the climate crisis. “It is to reverse the loss of nature and ensure a safer and healthier future for all it is essential to halve the global production and consumption footprint by 2030. We need to radically transform our culture and our society, “says the president of WWF Italy, Luciano Di Tizio.

“In Italy, the WWF has made concrete proposals that we hope that the Parliament that takes office today and the government that will follow will put at the center of the agenda: within a year we need a law on the climate, one to combat land consumption and a Code of Nature to rationalize all the rules to protect our biodiversity “he concludes the president of WWF Italy.