The habitats suffering the greatest damage are rivers and lakes, where wildlife populations have fallen 83%, due to the enormous thirst of agriculture and the large number of dams. ![]() The UK itself has lost much of its wildlife, ranking 189th for biodiversity loss out of 218 nations in 2016. “It is a classic example of where the disappearance is the result of our own consumption, because the deforestation is being driven by ever expanding agriculture producing soy, which is being exported to countries including the UK to feed pigs and chickens,” he said. ![]() In the tropical savannah called cerrado, an area the size of Greater London is cleared every two months, said Barrett. The worst affected region is South and Central America, which has seen an 89% drop in vertebrate populations, largely driven by the felling of vast areas of wildlife-rich forest. Hedgehog: This animal is among the fifth of UK mammals at high risk of extinction, with populations having fallen hugely in both urban and rural locations.Ġ1:00 WWF report warns annihilation of wildlife threatens civilisation – video Gharials: There are now just 200 breeding adults of the fish-eating crocodile in the wild in India and Nepal, the result of rampant fishing, poaching and drops in river flow.Ĭhinese giant salamander: This creature is one of 545 critically endangered amphibians, decimated by hunting for food, destruction of rivers and lakes and pollution. Jaguar: The razing of forests in South America is driving the decline of this big cat, which prefers to live in dense jungle One monitored population on South Georgia fell by half between 19 Wandering albatross: Populations are declining rapidly, driven largely by accidental catches in long line fisheries. Whale sharks: Numbers of the largest fish have collapsed by two thirds in the last 75 years in the Indian and-Pacific Oceans, due to overfishing and ship collisions. Orangutans: More than 100,000 were lost in Borneo alone between 19, largely due to forest destruction for timber and palm oil, leaving the great apes critically endangered Killing for food is the next biggest cause – 300 mammal species are being eaten into extinction – while the oceans are massively overfished, with more than half now being industrially fished.Īfrican elephants: With 55 being poached for ivory every day, more are being poached than are being born, meaning populations are plunging Three-quarters of all land on Earth is now significantly affected by human activities. The biggest cause of wildlife losses is the destruction of natural habitats, much of it to create farmland. ![]() “The Living Planet report clearly demonstrates that human activities are destroying nature at an unacceptable rate, threatening the wellbeing of current and future generations.” “Nature contributes to human wellbeing culturally and spiritually, as well as through the critical production of food, clean water, and energy, and through regulating the Earth’s climate, pollution, pollination and floods,” he said. Wildlife and the ecosystems are vital to human life, said Prof Bob Watson, one of the world’s most eminent environmental scientists and currently chair of an intergovernmental panel on biodiversity that said in March that the destruction of nature is as dangerous as climate change. ![]() The “shocking truth”, said Barrett, is that the wildlife crash is continuing unabated. Between 19, the latest data available, populations fell by an average of 60%. The Living Planet Index, produced for WWF by the Zoological Society of London, uses data on 16,704 populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians, representing more than 4,000 species, to track the decline of wildlife. Other recent analyses have revealed that humankind has destroyed 83% of all mammals and half of plants since the dawn of civilisation and that, even if the destruction were to end now, it would take 5-7 million years for the natural world to recover. Many scientists believe the world has begun a sixth mass extinction, the first to be caused by a species – Homo sapiens. “Only by addressing both ecosystems and climate do we stand a chance of safeguarding a stable planet for humanity’s future on Earth.” “We are rapidly running out of time,” said Prof Johan Rockström, a global sustainability expert at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.
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