In 50 years, 69% of vertebrates have disappeared, details this Thursday the WWF’s 2022 “Living Planet” report – produced every two years – on the state of life in the world. The situation of biodiversity and populations of vertebrate animals is considered alarming by the non-governmental organization. According to the report, man remains the main culprit, but climate change is becoming more and more important and could end up becoming the main cause of the disappearance of animals. WWF therefore calls on governments to adopt a “ambitious global agreementand is launching an online petition this Thursday.
To arrive at this figure of 69%, WWF studied 32,000 populations of more than 5,230 species of vertebrates (fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles). The conclusions of the scientific data collected show that between 1970 and 2018, the average decline in vertebrate populations reached 69%.
In the list of animals whose number is in free fall, we find the elephant of the forests in Africa, the gorilla of the plains, the shark or the tree frog. The loss is “catastrophic” for the WWF which warns: in 10 years the number of missing animals has increased by 10%. The most affected regions are Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia Pacific.
Among the reasons that explain this situation, we first find the destruction of forests or habitats for the benefit of agriculture or construction. Then come poaching and overexploitation, particularly of fishing, which reduces the number of animals. To illustrate this phenomenon, WWF uses the example of the leatherback turtle, the largest in the world. In western Guyana, 95% of the species has disappeared in 20 years, particularly because of illegal fishing.
Finally, another factor, this year the report particularly points the finger at climate change “becoming the greatest threat to biodiversity“in the coming decades, if”we are failing to limit warming to 1.5 degrees“A few years ago, climate change came in fifth place.
For WWF, “the situation is dramatic but not hopeless“. For proof according to the organization: “lprotected areas“, “ecosystem restoration“, “the transformation of our modes of production and our modes of production and consumption“. But to go even further and faster, WWF calls on governments to “adopt an ambitious global agreement“at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) next December. The NGO’s demands relate more specifically to two measures: “Put in place a moratorium on seabed mining” and “suspend biodiversity-damaging subsidies“. Finally, WWF France is launching a petition calling “supporting citizens in the face of the emergency” which will be available this Thursday morning on its site.