By Abdullahi Lukman
Global wildlife populations have declined by an average of 73 per cent over the past five decades, largely due to habitat destruction, overexploitation and climate change, although conservation efforts have helped some species recover, a new report has revealed.
The report, titled Living Planet Report, was released by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). It analysed data from tens of thousands of populations covering 5,790 vertebrate species between 1970 and 2022.
Despite the alarming decline, researchers found that about half of the monitored populations remained stable or increased, highlighting the positive impact of sustained conservation initiatives.
WWF Chief Scientist Rebecca Shaw said the findings demonstrated that targeted interventions could reverse wildlife losses, citing the recovery of green sea turtles and bluefin tuna as examples.
The report, however, stressed that reversing the global biodiversity crisis would require fundamental changes to food production, energy systems and financial investments.
Latin America and the Caribbean recorded the largest regional decline, with monitored wildlife populations falling by an average of 95 per cent between 1970 and 2022.
Africa recorded an 80 per cent decline, while populations in Asia and the Pacific fell by 49 per cent. North America, Europe and Central Asia recorded declines of about 25 per cent, although researchers noted that extensive environmental damage had occurred in those regions before 1970.
Freshwater species suffered the most significant losses among the ecosystems examined, recording an average decline of 85 per cent. Pollution, overharvesting and habitat destruction associated with infrastructure projects, including hydropower dams, were identified as major contributing factors.
Terrestrial wildlife losses were largely linked to habitat destruction and degradation, while marine species faced significant pressure from overfishing.
The researchers clarified that the 73 per cent figure represents the average change in the size of monitored animal populations, not a 73 per cent reduction in the total number of wild vertebrate animals worldwide.
The report highlighted several species that have benefited from sustained conservation measures.
Green sea turtles, for instance, were downgraded from their previous global threat status in 2025 after population improvements prompted the International Union for Conservation of Nature to reclassify the species.
The recovery followed decades of coordinated protection measures across more than 80 countries, including safeguarding nesting sites and reducing accidental capture in fishing gear.
Population increases have also been recorded among tigers, southern African elephants and Atlantic and Pacific bluefin tuna following conservation programmes and stricter industry regulations.
However, Columbia University associate research scientist Viorel Popescu, who was not involved in the report, warned that the findings might underestimate the scale of biodiversity loss because the assessment focused on selected vertebrate species.
He noted that declines among insects, which account for a substantial proportion of known animal species, could indicate a broader and potentially more severe crisis.
Conservation experts warned that insufficient funding could undermine efforts to protect threatened species, particularly as governments reduce international development assistance and conservation spending.
Andrew Terry, chief conservation officer at ZSL, said cuts to development aid budgets could have widespread consequences for both wildlife and communities living alongside it.
The report also identified agriculture and fossil fuels as major drivers of biodiversity loss through habitat destruction and greenhouse gas emissions.
Although the global expansion of solar energy
demonstrates that economic systems can shift towards less damaging alternatives, researchers said financial institutions continued to support activities harmful to nature.
One estimate cited in the report suggested that $7.3 trillion flowed into activities damaging to nature in 2023, more than 30 times the funding allocated to protecting and restoring it.
Shaw urged governments and investors to increase conservation funding while reducing financial support for activities that accelerate environmental destruction.
She said addressing the underlying causes of biodiversity loss through reforms in food production, energy and finance would be more effective than tackling the decline of individual species in isolation.
