Five things you need to know about our living planet in 2018 [View all]

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https://www.dw.com/en/five-things-you-need-to-know-about-our-living-planet-in-2018/a-46074931

Five things you need to know about our living planet in 2018

Date 30.10.2018
Author Sam Baker

In the 12th edition of the the World Wide Fund For Nature's biennial publication, the Living Planet Report 2018, the environmental organization unpacks its latest findings on the world's biodiversity. WWF used a dataset, called the Living Planet Index, to track 16,704 populations of more than 4,000 species from 1970 to 2014.

This report takes a closer look at population sizes (as opposed to the total number of species) and examines their change over time. It also delves into the ways humans depend on biodiversity, from medicine to food production to protection against storms.

Here are five major takeaways from the report:

1. Species' populations are in decline — and it's due to us

In total, the populations of vertebrates, or animals with a skeleton, have declined 60 percent since 1970.

Populations living in freshwater habitats (and especially freshwater fish) have crashed, with an average population loss of 83 percent due to dams, invasive species, overfishing, pollution, disease and other factors.

Populations across the south and central American tropics have suffered the largest declines of 89 percent on average. One cause is mass deforestation in such areas.
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With its eyes set on 2020, the World Wildlife Fund sees the next two years as crucial for changing how we humans use the Earth's resources.

"Without a dramatic move beyond 'business as usual,' the current severe decline of the natural systems that support modern societies will continue — with serious consequences for nature and people," WWF says in the report.
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