Wildlife Population declines globally by 69%: WWF

NEW DELHI: According to a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report released on Thursday, the world’s wildlife populations have decreased by more than two-thirds since 1970 as a result of deforestation and ocean pollution.

According to Andrew Terry, Director of Conservation and Policy, Zoological Society of London (ZSL), this drastic decline of wildlife population indicates towards deterioration of the natural world. Population sizes have decreased by 69 per cent on average, according to the analysis that used data from ZSL from 2018 on the state of 32,000 wildlife populations comprising more than 5,000 species. The main causes of the loss were found to be deforestation, human exploitation, pollution, and climate change.

The state of Latin America and the Caribbean was particularly bad, with a 94 per cent decline in wildlife populations in just five decades. According to the findings, between 1994 and 2016, one population of pink river dolphins in the Brazilian Amazon experienced a 65 per cent decline. The results showed that wildlife population levels were still declining at a pace of roughly 2.5 per cent annually, which was consistent with the findings of WWF’s most recent assessment in 2020, Terry said.

However, the report also shows some silver lining. Due to bushmeat hunting, the number of eastern lowland gorillas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kahuzi-Biega National Park decreased by 80 per cent between 1994 and 2019 while that of mountain gorillas close to Virunga National Park increased from 400 to over 600 by 2018.

To address the grave issue, delegates from all across the globe will assemble in Montreal in December to chalk out a new global plan of action to safeguard the planet’s flora and animals. Increased funding for international conservation efforts is perhaps one of the biggest demands.