In the last 50 years we have lost 73% of wild animals

According to the WWF Living Planet Report 2024, the strongest decline is recorded in freshwater ecosystems (-85%), followed by terrestrial ones (-69%) and then marine ones (-56%)

ROME – According to the WWF Living Planet Report (LPR) 2024, There has been a catastrophic 73% decline in the average size of global wild vertebrate populations monitored in just 50 years. (1970-2020).The report warns that, as the planet approaches dangerous tipping points that pose grave threats to humanity, a huge collective effort will be needed over the next five years to address the twin grips of the climate and biological crises.

The Living Planet Index (LPI), provided by the ZSL (Zoological Society of London), is based on the trends of almost 35,000 populations of 5,495 vertebrate species from 1970 to 2020. The strongest decline is recorded in freshwater ecosystems (-85%), followed by terrestrial ones (-69%) and then marine ones (-56%). Habitat loss and degradation, caused primarily by our food systems, represent the most frequent threat to wildlife populations worldwide, followed by overexploitation, the spread of invasive species and disease.Climate change poses a further threat particularly to biodiversity in Latin America and the Caribbean, regions which have seen an impressive average decline of 95%.

Declining wildlife populations are an early warning indicator of the growing risk of extinction and the potential loss of healthy ecosystems.When ecosystems are damaged, they cease to provide humanity with the benefits we depend on – clean air, water and healthy soil for food – and can become more vulnerable and closer to the point of no return.A 'tipping point', in fact, occurs when an ecosystem is pushed beyond a critical threshold, resulting in a substantial and potentially irreversible change.

Global tipping points, how the decay of the Amazon forest and the mass bleaching of coral reefs, would create shock waves that would reach far beyond the affected area, causing an impact on food security and livelihoods.The warning signal came with fires in the Amazon reaching their highest level in 14 years in August, while a fourth global mass coral bleaching event was confirmed earlier this year.

“Nature is sending out a real SOS.Crises linked to nature loss and climate change are pushing animal species and ecosystems beyond their limits, with dangerous global tipping points that threaten to damage the systems that support life on Earth and destabilize societies, he says. Kirsten Schuijt, Director General of WWF International - The catastrophic consequences of the loss of some of our most precious ecosystems, such as the Amazon rainforest and coral reefs, would affect people and nature around the world."

Alessandra Prampolini, general director of WWF Italy, adds:'The Earth system is in danger, and we are with it.The Living Planet Report warns us that crises related to nature loss and climate change are pushing animal species and ecosystems beyond their limits.The decisions and actions of the next five years will shape the future of our lives on the planet.The key word is transformation:we must change the way we protect nature, transform the energy system, the food system - one of the main drivers of global biodiversity loss - the financial system, directing it towards more equitable and inclusive investments.The biodiversity conference at the end of October and the climate conference in November are precious opportunities:Courageous actions and strong leadership from governments are needed.We need more ambitious national plans for climate and nature and we ask the Italian government to recognize the centrality of this challenge which concerns everyone's future.

Among the populations of species monitored in the LPI, for example, there has been a 57% decline between 1990 and 2018 in the number of nesting female hawksbill sea turtles on Milman Island, in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia;a 65% decline in the inia (a river dolphin) in the Amazon River and a 75% decline in the smallest sotalia between 1994 and 2016 in the Mamirauá reserve also in the Amazon.Last year, during a period of extreme heat and drought, more than 330 ie died in just two lakes.The index also reveals how some animal populations have stabilized or increased thanks to conservation efforts, as has happened with the mountain gorilla subpopulation, which increased by about 3% per year between 2010 and 2016 in the interior. of the Virunga massif in East Africa, and for the European bison, which has seen a return of populations in Central Europe.However, these isolated successes are not enough.