TOanimals at risk. Come on pink river dolphins of the Amazonwhose populations have collapsed by 65% (since 1994). To the gorilla of the eastern plain, whose number has experienced an estimated 80% decline. To sea lion cubs from South and West Australiadropped by two thirds between 1977 and 2019.
It is a devastating decline that the populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have suffered all over the world since 1970. That is, more or less, since the celebration (it was 1972 in Stockholm) of the first UN conference on the environment. An alarming decline, denounced by the Living Planet Report (LPR) 2022: the biennial report on the health of the planet, which WWF launched yesterday globally. The average percentage is 69%. We have lost about 7 out of 10 wild animals. In just half a century.
Animals at risk. Especially where nature is stronger
With its incredible body of data, which includes nearly 32,000 populations of 5,230 vertebrate species, the Living Planet Index (LPI), provided in the report by the ZSL (Zoological Society of London), shows that wild vertebrate populations are declining at a particularly staggering rate in tropical regions. In other words, the ax has lowered stronger precisely where nature was most luxuriant. Precisely these geographical areas, the WWF warns, are in fact among the richest in biodiversity in the world. In particular, the LPI data reveals that between 1970 and 2018 wildlife populations in Latin America and the Caribbean region decreased by an average of 94%.
From the Amazon to coral reefs
Thus the Amazon, the largest rainforest on the planet, has lost 17% of its original extension and a further 17% is now degraded. The point of no return is approaching, the moment, that is, when the forest will give way to the savannah. And coral reefs too, another extraordinary stronghold of biodiversity, are suffering from hell. About 50% of warm water corals are already lost. An increase in average temperatures of 1.5 degrees would result in the sacrifice of 70-90% of corals living in warm waters, while with a warming of 2 degrees it would reach over 99%.
In about 50 years, the freshwater populations monitored globally they decreased by an average of 83%: this is the largest decline of any group of species. Habitat loss and barriers to migration routes are responsible for about half of the threats to migratory fish species monitored.
Heat and drought put animals at risk
The rise of the waves of heat and drought is bringing about mortality events of mass in trees, birds, bats and fish. Just to give an example, in Australia, only one hot day extreme in 2014 killed more than 45,000 bats known as “foxes steering wheels”. Climate change has also been linked the loss of entire populations of over 1,000 plant and animal species.
We are also witnessing the first extinctions of entire species. The toad golden became extinct in 1989 due to the increasing number of days without the fog typical of Costa Rican rainforests. The rodent Melomys rubicolaendemic to the small island of Bramble Cay between Australia and Papua New Guinea, was declared extinct in 2016 after the sea level rise and a series of severe storms they flooded his house, killing the plant he fed on e destroying its nesting sites. Any degree of heating risks increasing these losses.
Climate and biodiversity, two sides of the same crisis
What we are experiencing is therefore a double emergency: there is not only climate change, which is already talked about a lot, even if never enough. The loss of biodiversity also threatens the well-being of current and future generations. “Half of the global economy and billions of people depend directly on nature,” said Andrew Terry, ZSL’s Director of Conservation and Policy. “Preventing further loss of biodiversity and restoring vital ecosystems must be at the top of the global agendas to address the growing climate, environmental and public health crises.”
Hence the appeal to world leaders who will meet in December for the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15). WWF asks leaders to commit to a “Paris-style” agreement capable of reversing the loss of biodiversitythrough the transformation of sectors that cause nature loss and financial support for developing countries.
The causes of the decline, from climate to pollution
What are the causes of the decline in wild animal populations? According to the Living Planet Report, the defendants are the changes in land and sea use, the over-exploitation of plants and animals. But also climate change, pollution and invasive alien species. Threats from agriculture, hunting and poaching, and deforestation are very serious in the tropics. While the issue of pollution is particularly important in Europe. THEFurthermore, unless we limit warming to less than 2 ° C, or preferably 1.5 ° C, climate change is likely to become the main cause. the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystems in the coming decades.
But it will not be possible to achieve a positive future for nature without recognizing and respecting the rights, governance and leadership in conservation of indigenous peoples and local communities around the world. In short, the protection of the environment passes through the protection of the populations who, for millennia and with respect, have lived there.
WWF’s requests to the new Italian government
We therefore need to radically transform our culture and our society. For this reason Luciano Di Tizio, president of WWF Italy specified that he already, as WWF Italy, “put forward concrete proposals that we hope will be placed at the center of the agenda of the new government: within a year a law on the climate, one to combat land consumption and a Nature Code to rationalize all the rules to protect our biodiversity“.
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