Irish Examiner view: A lost world

Global wildlife populations have fallen by nearly 70% in less than 50 years, conservationists warned as they called for immediate action to halt the nature and climate crises.

The new data from the Living Planet Report, which tracks Earth’s wildlife populations, makes grim reading for all of us, with forecasts that we are living through the sixth mass extinction — the largest loss of life since the time of the dinosaurs — and that it is being driven by humans.

Wildlife numbers have fallen by an average of 69% in just under 50 years, alongside forest clearance, ever-increasing consumption, and global pollution. The assessment, compiled by the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London, shows that the abundance of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and fish declined on average by two thirds between 1970 and 2018 and that this rate is accelerating.

Latin America and the Caribbean region, including the Amazon, have seen the steepest fall in average wildlife population size, with a 94% drop in 48 years.

The survey, compiled by 89 scientists, is to be presented to the Cop15 biodiversity summit in Canada in December.

“Despite the science, the catastrophic projections, the impassioned speeches and promises, the burning forests, submerged countries, record temperatures, and displaced millions, world leaders continue to sit back and watch our world burn in front of our eyes,” said the WWF.

If we continue, this century may be marked as the one in which we killed the planet.