Nature is in ‘freefall’ yet hope remains for wildlife populations

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The message came from conservation charity WWF in its latest Living Planet index analysis of 35,803 populations of 5,970 species of birds, fish, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, conducted alongside the Zoological Society of London.

The study, published today, found that wildlife populations had fallen by 73 per cent between 1970 and 2022, a process driven by energy, food and financial systems.

But there have been bright spots which demonstrated wildlife can recover “remarkably quickly,” including in Britain where numbers of otters, beavers, white-tailed eagles and bluefin tuna all bucked the trend while intensive conservation work elsewhere has seen a 70 per cent increase in wild tiger numbers since 2010

It shows there’s “grounds for hope,” according to WWF’s chief scientific adviser Dr Mike Barrett, even though “nature remains in freefall” at the global scale.

“These are examples of species that can recover, can be reintroduced and recover when we actually do the right thing, when the right policies, the right conservation measures, the right protections, are in place,” he said.

“It’s clear that global biodiversity loss is now widely recognised as an existential threat to economic stability and security and human wellbeing.

“Given the appalling damage that humanity has inflicted on the planet over many decades, it is a remarkable truth that we have still got a way out.”

WWF-UK chief executive Tanya Steele said: “We stand at a fork in the road: either we continue paying the rising price of nature loss, or we invest in nature’s recovery and a future where people and wildlife can thrive together.

“The window to secure that future is closing fast but successful conservation efforts from tuna to tigers show that we can succeed.

“Governments, businesses and communities must pull together to drive the transformations we need to see in food, energy and finance to bring our world back to life.”

The British government’s special representative for nature Ruth Davis responded: “Nature loss is a serious economic and security risk.

“This report makes abundantly clear the urgency of the action needed at home and abroad.

“The UK is absolutely committed to turning round this decline.”

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