In The Last 50 Years, Earth Has Lost 68% Of Wildlife, 85% Wetlands, All Thanks To Us Humans

Global animal, bird, and fish populations have plummeted more than two-thirds in less than 50 years due to rampant deforestation and over-consumption by humans, a new report has stated.

Human activity has severely degraded three quarters of all land and 40 per cent of Earth's oceans, and our quickening destruction of nature is likely to have untold consequences on our health and livelihoods.

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The Living Planet Index, which tracks more than 4,000 species of vertebrates, warned that increasing deforestation and agricultural expansion were the key drivers behind a 68 per cent average decline in populations between 1970 and 2016.

It warned that continued natural habitat loss increased the risk of future pandemics as humans expand their presence into ever closer contact with wild animals.

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2020's Living Planet Report, a collaboration between WWF International and the Zoological Society of London, is the 13th edition of the biennial publication tracking wildlife populations around the world.

WWF International director general Marco Lambertini told AFP of the staggering loss of Earth's biodiversity since 1970.

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"It's an accelerating decrease that we've been monitoring for 30 years and it continues to go in the wrong direction," he said.

"In 2016 we documented a 60 per cent decline, now we have a 70 per cent decline.

Freshwater species population declined

It also stated that the population of freshwater species including fish, birds, amphibians and mammals have declined by 84% globally since 1970, threatening one in three freshwater or riverine species with extinction.

At least 85% of the earthĄ¯s wetlands are already lost and freshwater species are at the highest risk compared to forest or marine species, the report said.

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The Living Planet update comes alongside a study co-authored by more than 40 NGOs and academic institutions, which lays out ways of arresting and reversing the losses human consumption has inflicted.

Reducing food wastage could help

The research, published in the journal Nature, suggests that reducing food waste and favouring healthier and more environmentally friendly diets could help to "bend the curve" of degradation.

Coupled with radical conservation efforts, these measures could avert more than two-thirds of future biodiversity loss, the authors suggested.

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"We need to act now. Rates of biodiversity recovery are typically much slower than those of recent biodiversity loss," said lead study author David Leclere, research scholar at the International Institute of Applied System Analysis.

"This implies that any delay in action will allow further biodiversity losses that might take decades to restore."

Leclere also warned of "irreversible" losses to biodiversity, such as when a species goes extinct.

Lambertini said that, like public discourse on climate change, societies are increasingly concerned about the links between the health of the planet and human well-being.

"From being sad about losing nature, people are beginning to actually get worried," he said.

"We still have a moral duty to co-exist with life on the planet, but there's now this new element of impact on our society, our economy and, of course, our health.