Slow Clap: We’ve Wiped Out 58 Percent of Wildlife in 40 Years

A new report from WWF puts a number to the destruction we’ve created.

We’ve known it all along, but the number of animal deaths is still staggering. (Photo: iStock)

Ah, yes. Environment news seems to be consistently bad. And once again, we’ve managed to seal our impending doom, according to a new report by the World Wildlife Fund. The data looked at key vertebrate species, like types of birds, fish, mammals, amphibians and reptiles.

Between 1970 and 2012, 58% of this wildlife declined. That doesn’t mean 58% of species have gone extinct, but it means populations have gone down significantly.

So how did we get here? In all our excitement to have more things, we’ve mowed down sensitive ecological zones, spilled oil into oceans, burned through forests and dumped our non-biodegradable leftovers all over the place.

The destruction is immense.

This is not just about the wonderful species we all love; biodiversity forms the foundation of healthy forests, rivers and oceans. Take away species, and these ecosystems will collapse along with the clean air, water, food and climate services that they provide us. We have the tools to fix this problem and we need to start using them now if we are serious about preserving a living planet for our own survival and prosperity.

Dr Marco Lambertini, International Director General, WWF

But experts warn to be careful when looking at the WWF report. It’s almost impossible to develop a completely accurate calculation of how much wildlife has suffered because different countries have different data collecting mechanisms.

And the report looks primarily at 14,000 vertebrate species, though there are many more in the world

Still, that shouldn’t distract us from the fact that a lot of the damage we’ve done to the natural world is irreversible and will have consequences on our survival.