“The number of wildlife worldwide has declined by 69 per cent in the last 50 years.” 

 The number of wildlife in the world has decreased by 69 per cent between 1970 and 2018, according to the latest report published by the World Wildlife Fund. A public report released on Thursday made it clear that climate change and other human activities have led to such a drastic decline in animal numbers. The latest report was published by WWF after studying around 32,000 habitats of 5,230 vertebrate species around the world between 1970 and 2018. For the study, the Fund used a data set called the Living Planet Index (LPI). The report prepared by the authors highlights that the Earth is facing the ‘double Problem’ of climate change and biodiversity loss.

According to the WWF report, currently one per cent to 2.5 per cent of the world’s mammals, reptiles, fishes and amphibians have disappeared, and about one million animals and plants are on the verge of extinction. Among the world’s regional ecosystems, Latin America and the Caribbean have experienced the highest average loss of 94 per cent, according to the report. The report also warns that the Amazon rainforest in this region will become ineffective.

During this period, the number of some animals decreased significantly and some increased relatively, states the report. Due to conservation efforts, there has been some increase in the number of famous animals like tigers and elephants.