Continued natural habitat loss increased the risk of future pandemics as humans expand their presence into ever closer contact with wild animals
The average size of wildlife populations has plummeted more than two-thirds in less than 50 years because of deforestation and rampant overconsumption. Experts said on Thursday that the warning was to protect nature in order to save itself. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) annual Living Planet report, human activity has severely degraded three-quarters of all land and 40 percent of the Earth’s oceans, an accelerating destruction of nature that will have untold consequences on health and livelihoods.
“The global Living Planet Index continues to decline. It shows an average 68% decrease in population sizes of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish between 1970 and 2016. A 94% decline in the LPI for the tropical subregions of the Americas is the largest fall observed in any part of the world”, says the executive summary of the report.
The Living Planet Index, which finds more than 4,000 species of vertebrates, warns that an average of 68 percent of the population will fall between 1970 and 2016.
“This is a rapid decline that we have been observing for 30 years and it continues in the wrong direction.” WWF International Director General Marco Lambertini said. “In 2016, we had a 60 percent decline, and now we have a 70 percent decline. “All of this is eye-popping compared to the millions of years that have lived on this planet for millions of years,” Lambertini added.
In his introduction to the report, Lambertini has written, “At a time when the world is reeling from the deepest global disruption and health crisis of a lifetime, this year’s Living Planet Report provides unequivocal and alarming evidence that nature is unravelling and that our planet is flashing red warning signs of vital natural systems failure. The Living Planet Report 2020 clearly outlines how humanity’s increasing destruction of nature is having catastrophic impacts not only on wildlife populations but also on human health and all aspects of our lives.
“This highlights that a deep cultural and systemic shift is urgently needed, one that so far our civilisation has failed to embrace: a transition to a society and economic system that values nature, stops taking it for granted and recognises that we depend on nature more than nature depends on us.”
The report, in collaboration with the WWF International and the Zoological Society of London, warned that damage to natural habitats could increase the risk of future epidemics.
Catastrophic fall
Unprecedented economic growth in the last half decade has led to an explosion in the global consumption of natural resources. Until the 1970s, mankind’s ecological footprint was smaller than its ability to regenerate Earth’s resources, but the WWF now estimates that man is using more than half of the planet’s capacity. With the contributions of about 125 experts, the report says that of the more than 4,000 vertebrates studied, those living in freshwater fell by 84 percent.
Gorillas in the eastern lowlands of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the African sparrow in Ghana are other wildlife that have been badly affected. Scientists say deforestation is also a major factor in the spread of zoonotic diseases transmitted from animals to humans, including the new corona virus.
“Deforestation, increased wildlife and livestock-human interventions increase the likelihood of the spread of animal diseases such as Ebola, such as Kovid-19,” Fran Wris Thomson, head of global forest training at the WWF, told the Reuters Foundation.
“Forests really act as buffers to keep these diseases away from humans – and as they are destroyed, we are likely to unleash something that is detrimental to humanity.”
If the world continues to do business as usual in the next decade, it will take decades to reverse the loss of wildlife, and the likelihood of some species being revived will be reduced, Price said.
They called for the courageous commitments and efforts of governments and corporations to make global supply chains more sustainable. She said consumers need to understand the impact of their buying habits and buy more responsibly.
Our world in 2020
• Global economic growth since WWII has driven exponential human improvements, yet this has come at a huge cost to the stability of Earth’s operating systems that sustain us.
• Humans are now overusing the Earth’s biocapacity by at least 56%.
• Land-use change due to where and how we produce food, is one of the biggest threats humans pose to biodiversity.
• Our ocean is also in hot water, with overfishing, pollution, coastal development and climate change causing a growing spectrum of adverse effects across marine ecosystems.
Reducing the impact
Researchers at the University of Oxford said on Thursday that restoration of forests and mangroves was important – a natural solution to mitigate climate change. If they cite the first planned review of nature-based solutions around the world, they have found that 60 percent of such ventures address climate-related pressures such as floods, erosion, and food production losses.
“It’s not just about tree planting and greenhouse gas removal,” said study author Alexander Chassen. “In most cases, nature-based interventions will help communities adapt to the impact of climate change we have seen in recent months, from record-breaking heat waves to wildfires and hurricanes,” she said in a statement.
The WWF report includes 20 articles from young activists, writers, academics, business leaders, journalists, and local leaders from China to Mexico. Among them was the esteemed British naturalist David Attenborough, who urged people to “work rather than oppose nature.”