what the latest alarming report from the WWF says

C’is a figure to be approached with caution, but the signal is alarming. Populations of wild animals have lost an average of 73% of their individuals in fifty years, mainly because of humanity, according to the reference report from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) published this Thursday, October 10, a few days of COP16 biodiversity in Colombia.

This conclusion of the “Living Planet” report does not mean that more than two thirds of the number of wild animals on the planet have disappeared, but that the size of the various populations (groups of animals of the same species sharing a common inhabitant) has decreased by 73% on average over the last fifty years (1970-2020).

The trend was 68% in the previous edition, in 2022. In total, around 5,500 vertebrates (mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians), distributed in some 35,000 populations across the world, are now recorded by this “ living planet index”, established and updated every two years by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) since 1998. The index has become an international reference for taking the pulse of natural ecosystems and analyzing the consequences on human health, food or climate change, despite repeated criticism from scientists against the calculation method, accused of greatly exaggerating the extent of the decline.

“We remain confident in the solidity” of the index, replied Andrew Terry, of the ZSL, at a press briefing, highlighting the complementary use of a “series of indicators on the risks of extinction, the biodiversity and ecosystem health to broaden the bigger picture.

Freshwater species in great danger

“It’s not just about wildlife, it’s about the essential ecosystems that support human life,” warned Daudi Sumba, WWF’s chief curator, during an online presentation. The new edition of the report reiterates the need to jointly confront the “interconnected” crises of climate and nature destruction. And emphasizes the growing threat of “tipping points” in certain ecosystems. “The changes could be irreversible, with devastating consequences for humanity,” warned Daudi Sumba, citing the example of the Amazon, at risk of switching from the role of “carbon sink to carbon emitter, accelerating thus global warming.

Another example: the loss of corals would alter the regeneration of fish species victims of overfishing and, in turn, would deprive humanity of precious food resources. In detail, the strongest decline is observed in the populations of freshwater species (- 85%), followed by terrestrial (- 69%) and marine vertebrates (- 56%). “We have emptied the oceans of 40% of their biomass,” recalled Yann Laurans of WWF France.

Europe less threatened

Continent by continent, the decline reached 95% in Latin America and the Caribbean, followed by Africa (-76%), Asia and the Pacific (-60%). The reduction is “less spectacular in Europe and Central Asia (-35%) and North America (-39%), but only because large-scale impacts on nature were already visible before 1970 in these regions: some populations have stabilized and even expanded thanks to conservation efforts and the reintroduction of species,” explains the report.

The European bison, which disappeared in the wild in 1927, numbered 6,800 individuals in 2020 thanks to “large-scale breeding” and successful reintroduction – particularly in France –, mainly in protected areas.

“The picture painted is incredibly worrying,” said Kirsten Schuijt, executive director of WWF. “But the good news is that we are not yet at the point of no return,” she added, citing ongoing efforts in the wake of the Paris climate agreement or the Kunming-Montreal agreement. The latter set around twenty nature conservation objectives for States around the world to achieve by 2030.

Stimulating the hitherto timid implementation of this roadmap will be the main task of the 16^e conference of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which takes place from October 21 to 1^is November in Cali, Colombia.