31 October 2018

Press Release

For immediate release

Living Planet Report 2018, Wales

Plummeting populations of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish around the world are an urgent sign that nature needs life support, WWF warned today. The conservation organisation’s flagship Living Planet Report 2018 shows population sizes of wildlife fell an average of 60 percent globally since 1970.

The report, involving over 50 experts, paints a dire picture of the state of our planet and clearly illustrates that humans are living beyond the planet’s means and wiping out life on earth in the process.

It highlights how activities driven by human consumption are the dominant cause of current wildlife declines and the destruction of forests, oceans and landscapes. It also identifies climate change and pollution, including plastic, as significant and growing threats. It reveals:

Only a quarter of the planet’s land is free from human impact. By 2050, this is projected to fall to just a tenth;
The percentage of the world’s seabirds estimated to have plastic in their stomach has increased from 5 percent in 1960 to 90 percent today;
Globally, freshwater species populations, such as amphibians, have declined 83 percent on average over the same period;
In April 2018, levels of climate warming carbon dioxide reached the highest level in at least 800,000 years.