World Wildlife Warning

The world’s wildlife has decreased by 58% since the 1970s.

13:09 29 October 2016

Global wildlife have fallen an average of 58per cent from 1970 levels, a report released by the WWF and Zoological Society of London has claimed. Researchers say that human activity has reduced the numbers of elephants in Tanzania, maned wolves in Brazil, orcas in the waters of Europe and salamanders in the United States. 

 

The report claimed that deforestation, pollution, overfishing and the illegal wildlife trade, together with climate change “are pushing populations to the edge.” 

 

Mike Barrett, director of science and policy at WWF-UK, said: 'For the first time since the demise of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, we face a global mass extinction of wildlife,' 

 

 'We ignore the decline of other species at our peril - for they are the barometer that reveals our impact on the world that sustains us.'

 

Reseachers said that unless action is taken to reverse the damaging impacts of human activity, the populations of vertebrate species could fall by 67per cent from 1970 levels. 

 

'Human behavior continues to drive the decline of wildlife populations globally, with particular impact on freshwater habitats,' said Ken Norris, director of science at ZSL. 'Importantly, however, these are declines - they are not yet extinctions - and this should be a wake-up call to marshal efforts to promote the recovery of these populations.'