The Living Planet Report 2024 has been published by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The report revealed that the average size of monitored wildlife populations has decreased by 73 per cent since 1970.
Key points
- The report warns that, as the Earth approaches dangerous tipping points posing grave threats to humanity, a huge collective effort will be required over the next five years to tackle the dual climate and nature crises.
- The Living Planet Index (LPI), provided by ZSL (Zoological Society of London), includes almost 35,000 population trends of 5,495 species from 1970-2020.
- The strongest decline is reported in freshwater ecosystems 85%, followed by terrestrial 69% and marine 56%.
- Habitat loss and degradation, driven primarily by our food systems, is the most reported threat to wildlife populations around the world, followed by overexploitation, invasive species and disease.
- Pollution is an additional threat for wildlife populations in Asia and the Pacific, which have recorded a staggering 60% average decline.
- The decline of the three vulture species in India—white-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis), Indian vulture (Gyps indicus), and slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris)—is alarming. Research shows that these species have seen dramatic population decreases, particularly between 1992 and 2002.
- The Living Planet Report 2024 highlights that ecological degradation combined with climate change increases the likelihood of reaching local and regional tipping points. For example, rapid urban expansion in Chennai has resulted in an 85% decline in the area of wetlands.
India’s food consumption
- The report emphasised India’s food consumption pattern as the most sustainable among the big economies (G20 countries).
- The report also mentioned that if the world follows India’s pattern it would be least damaging to Earth to support food production by 2050.
- The report put Argentina, Australia and the US’s food consumption patterns in the worst category and opined that it can lead to exceeding the global warming limit.
- According to the paper, if all countries follow India’s current consumption patterns, the globe will require “less than one planet” (0.84) to support food production by 2050.
