World's wildlife populations have decreased by roughly 70% since 1970, says WWF

The world's wildlife populations have decreased by more than two-thirds since 1970 as a result of forest clearing and ocean pollution, as pera report released on Thursday.

According to Andrew Terry, head of conservation and strategy at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), "This "severe drop... warns us that nature is unravelling and the natural world is emptying."

Population sizes had decreased by 69% on average, according to a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) analysis that used data from ZSL from 2018 on the state of 32,000 wildlife populations comprising more than 5,000 species.

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The main causes of the loss were deforestation, human exploitation, pollution, and climate change.

With a 94% decline in just five decades, wildlife populations in Latin America and the Caribbean were particularly heavily struck. According to the findings, between 1994 and 2016, one population of pink river dolphins in the Brazilian Amazon experienced a 65% decline.

"Nature was in dire straits and it is still in dire straits," said Mark Wright, director of science atWWF-UK. "The war is definitely being lost."

The report did provide a few vestiges of hope. Due to bushmeat hunting, the number of eastern lowland gorillas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Kahuzi-Biega National Park decreased by 80% between 1994 and 2019 while that of mountain gorillas close to Virunga National Park climbed from 400 to over 600 by 2018.

Nevertheless, the widespread decreases have led to frantic cries for more protection of the environment.

Delegates from all across the world will assemble in Montreal in December to work out a new global plan of action to safeguard the planet's flora and animals.

Increased funding for international conservation efforts is perhaps one of the biggest requests.

"We are calling on the rich nations to provide financial support to us to protect our nature," said Alice Ruhweza,WWF's regional director for Africa.

(With inputs from agencies)

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