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.
The latest Living Planet Report 2022, WWF's flagship publication of a comprehensive study of trends in global biodiversity and the planet's health, reveals an average decline of 69% in species populations since 1970. While conservation efforts are helping, urgent action is required to reverse nature loss.
The rapid decline of biodiversity over the years
OUR SOCIETY IS AT ITS MOST IMPORTANT FORK IN HISTORY, AND FACING ITS DEEPEST SYSTEMS CHANGE CHALLENGE AROUND, WHAT IS, PERHAPS THE MOST EXISTENTIAL OF ALL OUR RELATIONSHIPS: THE ONE WITH NATURE - Marco Lambertini, Director General, WWF International.
Land use change is still the biggest current threat to nature, destroying or fragmenting the natural habitats of many plant and animal species on land, in freshwater, and in the sea. However, if we are unable to limit global warming to 1.5°C, climate change is likely to become the dominant cause of biodiversity loss in the coming decades. Rising temperatures are already driving mass mortality events, as well as the first extinctions of entire species. Every degree of warming is expected to increase these losses and the impact they have on people.
Biodiversity indicators help us understand how our natural world is changing over time. Tracking the health of nature over almost 50 years, the Living Planet Index acts as an early warning indicator by tracking trends in the abundance of mammals, fish, reptiles, birds and amphibians around the world.
This edition of the Living Planet Report confirms the planet is in the midst of a biodiversity and climate crisis, and that we have the last chance to act. This goes beyond conservation. A nature-positive future needs transformative - game-changing - shifts in how we produce, how we consume, how we govern, and what we finance. We hope it inspires you to be part of that change.
To read the full report, click here.
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