The Living Planet Report 2022 reveals an average decline of 69% in species populations since 1970. This flagship WWF publication is a comprehensive study of trends in global biodiversity and the health of the planet.
Africa recorded a 66 percent fall in its wildlife populations from 1970-2018 and the Asia Pacific 55 percent, according to the WWF report. Living Planet Report 2022 noes wildlife populations decline by 69% in 50 years. Freshwater species populations globally reduced by 83 percent, confirming that the planet is experiencing a “biodiversity and climate crisis”.
The Living Planet Index (LPI), featuring about 32,000 populations of 5,230 species across the world, showed that vertebrate wildlife populations are plummeting at a particularly staggering rate in tropical regions of the world.
Mangroves continue to be lost to aquaculture, agriculture, and coastal development at a rate of 0.13 percent per year, according to the findings.
Around 137 square kilometers of the Sundarbans mangrove forest in India and Bangladesh has been eroded since 1985, reducing land and ecosystem services for many of the 10 million people who live there.
DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS
Every year, around 10 million hectares of forests are destroyed, making way for activities like cattle pasture, palm oil plantations, soy fields, or roads. Most of this is happening in tropical regions, where there is a particularly rich variety of life.
THE FOREST CRISIS IN NUMBERS
- Forests are home to almost half the species on land.
- Over 1 billion people live in and around forests.
- Every year, 10 million hectares of forest are destroyed.
- Human impacts have destroyed around 40% of forests.
Commercial agriculture is the largest driver of deforestation, followed by subsistence agriculture
LIFE ON EARTH IS UNDER THREAT
Biodiversity, the variety of life on Earth, provides us with services essential for human well-being such as clothing, food, and medicines. But we are losing it at an alarming rate. A million plant and animal species are threatened with extinction, and we have lost half of the world’s corals and lose forest areas the size of 27 football fields every minute.
THE FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE OF FORESTS
Forests stabilize our climate and without them, global temperatures would be 0.5°C warmer. But every year we lose forests about the size of Portugal. Deforestation causes carbon emissions, increases droughts, and leads to warmer, drier local climates. It also puts the food security and livelihood of millions of people at risk.
