KARACHI: Monitored wildlife populations, including that of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish, have seen a devastating 69 percent drop on an average since 1970, the WWF’s Living Planet Report (LPR) 2022 said on Thursday.
The report highlights the stark outlook of the state of nature and warns governments, businesses and the public to take transformative action to reverse the destruction of biodiversity.
With its biggest dataset yet, featuring almost 32,000 populations of over 5,000 species, the Living Planet Index (LPI), shows it is within tropical regions where wildlife populations are plummeting at a particularly staggering rate.
WWF is extremely concerned about this trend given that these geographical areas are some of the most biodiverse in the world.
Sharing his views on the report, Hammad Naqi Khan, Director General, WWF-Pakistan said: "Pakistan is home to magnificent wildlife, some of which is threatened and endangered including the snow leopard and common leopard, the Indus River dolphin, white-backed vulture and long-billed vulture, and Arabian Sea humpback whale, among others."
Wildlife conservation generally has low priority in Pakistan and species face multiple threats including habitat loss, illegal wildlife trade, hunting, pollution, and risks from other human activities, he said.
"We should undertake collaborative efforts to protect wildlife habitats, address the issue of illegal wildlife trade and restore our fragile ecosystems," he added.
The country experienced unprecedented monsoon rains and floods this year in which more than 1,500 people died and millions were displaced, he pointed out.
He attributed the scale of the floods and the preceding heatwave to climate change, saying that "Pakistan is becoming increasingly vulnerable to climate induced disasters."
He further emphasized on the need to engage various government and non-government stakeholders to develop a joint strategy to lead climate resilient development.
Khan said that climate change is also fueling biodiversity loss with decline in species’ populations which will impact entire ecosystems, and ultimately our future generations. “The reports shocking figures highlight the interlinked climate and biodiversity crises," he maintained.
In less than a lifetime, monitored freshwater populations have fallen by an average of 83 percent, the largest decline in any species group. Habitat loss and barriers to migration routes are responsible for about half of the threats to monitored migratory fish species.
One million plants and animals are threatened with extinction, and up to 2.5 percent of birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and fishes have already gone extinct. The population abundance and genetic diversity have decreased, and species are losing their climatically determined habitats.
Dr Andrew Terry, Director of Conservation and Policy at Zoological Society of London (ZSL) said, “The Living Planet Index highlights how we have cut away the very foundation of life and the situation continues to worsen.
Half of the global economy and billions of people are directly reliant on nature. Preventing further biodiversity loss and restoring vital ecosystems has to be at the top of global agendas to tackle the mounting climate, environmental and public health crises.”
Our food production also relies on a healthy and stable natural world, but climate change is projected to decrease productive land and waters, shorten growing seasons, and decrease crop yields.
The report further highlights the need for sustainability in our food systems especially since they are currently responsible for around 30 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, significantly contributing to climate change and pollution.
By adopting nature-positive food production at scale, shifting to healthier and more sustainable diets, and eliminating food loss and waste, everyone can be provided with healthy and nutritious food within planetary boundaries.
World leaders are due to meet at the 15th Conference of Parties to the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) this December for a once-in-a-decade opportunity to course-correct for the sake of people and the planet.
WWF is advocating for leaders to commit to a ‘Paris-style’ agreement capable of reversing biodiversity loss to secure a nature-positive world by 2030.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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