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WWF: 40 years later, half the wildlife

"The findings of this year's Living Planet Report make it clearer than ever that there is no room for complacency," said Marco Lambertini.

By Brooks Hays
P.J. Mann, an employee of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, rescues a brown pelican from oil-filled waters on Queen Bess Island, Louisiana, June 5, 2010. Oil from the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has fouled the marshlands and injured wildlife. (File/UPI/A.J. Sisco)
P.J. Mann, an employee of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, rescues a brown pelican from oil-filled waters on Queen Bess Island, Louisiana, June 5, 2010. Oil from the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has fouled the marshlands and injured wildlife. (File/UPI/A.J. Sisco) | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Humans are one of the few animal species thriving in the 21st century, and the proliferation of Homo sapiens has come at the expense of most other living creatures. According to a new report, wildlife is on the decline. In the last 40 years, the World Wildlife Fund says half of the world's mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and birds have disappeared -- and humans are largely to blame.

"Biodiversity is a crucial part of the systems that sustain life on Earth -- and the barometer of what we are doing to this planet, our only home," Marco Lambertini, the international director general of WWF, said in a press release. "We urgently need bold global action in all sectors of society to build a more sustainable future."

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This year's Living Planet Report is the tenth edition of WWF's biennial assessment, and though the news is graver than in years past, researchers say they worked to hone in more specifically on the factors responsible for wildlife decline, as well as the available solutions.

Not surprisingly, the report's authors finger habitat loss as the most significant contributing factor. Not far behind is environmental degradation. Overfishing, hunting and poaching are also to blame, scientists say. As the study's authors sum it up, humans use more than Earth can provide.

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Humans clear trees faster than they can be replanted and mature, humans harvest more fish than oceans replenish, and humans use more fossil fuels and emit more carbon into the atmosphere than our natural systems, like forests and oceans, can absorb. The solution, researchers say, is to repair damaged ecosystems, consume more wisely (eat and build sustainably), produce more effectively (recycle, use renewable energy), share natural resources more equitably, and ensure human financial systems account for long-term environmental costs.

"The findings of this year's Living Planet Report make it clearer than ever that there is no room for complacency," Lambertini said. "It is essential that we seize the opportunity -- while we still can -- to develop sustainably and create a future where people can live and prosper in harmony with nature."

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