Wednesday 31 October 2018

Imagine if the human population fell by 60% Wildlife populations have declined by 67% in less than 50 years! The Living Planet Report 2018


Imagine if the human population fell by 60%.
That would be like emptying the America's, Europe, Africa, Oceania and China of people
Back in February, The Big Wobble posted a frightening warning... Tipping point breached! The monarch butterfly has a 95% decline since 1980's in North America: Two-thirds of ALL animals and insects extinct in 2 years
In just two years’ time, the World will have lost two-thirds of all wild animals.
This amazing statistic from The Living Planet Index goes on: The number of wild animals living on Earth is set to fall by two-thirds by 2020, according to a new report, part of a mass extinction that is destroying the natural world upon which humanity depends.
The analysis, the most comprehensive to date, indicates that animal populations plummeted by 58% between 1970 and 2012, with losses on track to reach 67% by 2020. Researchers from WWF and the Zoological Society of London compiled the report from scientific data and found that the destruction of wild habitats, hunting and pollution were to blame.
In another report released by journal Science, Advances are claiming the world's primates face an "extinction crisis" with 60% of species now threatened with extinction, according to research.
A global study, involving more than 30 scientists, assessed the conservation status of more than 500 individual species. This also revealed that 75% of species have populations that are declining.
Add to this the unprecedented death of millions of tons of marine life around the world’s oceans and waterways all point to a crisis which has crossed the tipping point.
Just yesterday NOAA along with NASA claimed 2016 marked three consecutive years of record warmth for the globe with the first eight months of 2016 unprecedented warmth!
With 10 of the 11 warmest years ever recorded coming in the last 16 years, it is fair to claim climate change is climate changed it will never recover.
The Sun hasn't risen over its horizon for more than two months yet the North Pole was warmer than South of France, Italy, Greece Turkey and Syria this week and not for the first time either this winter!
The world is creaking under the stress; crops are failing all over the world due to extreme weather, and with 7.5 billion people we can’t possibly feed everyone, even though the West probably throws away enough food to feed the poorest.
This week the WWF have released another frightening report...

Few people have had the chance to find themselves on the cusp of
a truly historic transformation.
We passionately believe (Monique Grooten and Rosamunde Almond WWF-NL) that this is where we stand today.
Our planet is at a crossroads and we have the opportunity to decide the path ahead.
On one hand, we have known for many, many years that we are
driving the planet to the very brink.
This is not a doom and gloom
story; it is a reality.
The astonishing decline in wildlife populations
shown by the latest Living Planet Index – a 60% fall in just over
40 years – is a grim reminder and perhaps the ultimate indicator
of the pressure we exert on the planet.

Below is a highlight of the report...

A WARNING SIGN FROM OUR PLANET: NATURE NEEDS LIFE SUPPORT
10/30/2018
The Living Planet Report 2018 shows that wildlife populations have declined by over half in less than 50 years.
Plummeting numbers of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish around the world are an urgent sign that nature needs life support. Our Living Planet Report 2018 shows population sizes of wildlife decreased by 60% globally between 1970 and 2014.
For the last 20 years, scientists from ZSL, WWF and other organisations, have been monitoring changes in the populations of thousands of animal species around the world.
Sadly, they’ve concluded that the variety of life on Earth and wildlife populations are disappearing fast.
Current efforts to protect nature are not ambitious enough to match the scale of the threat our planet is facing.
We are calling for a new global deal for nature and people to halt wildlife decline and tackle deforestation, climate change and plastic pollution, backed by concrete commitments from global leaders and businesses to tackle wildlife loss, climate change and development in an integrated way.
To stop the decline of the natural systems that support us and all other animals on the planet, we need real change, all over the world.
The challenge we face is to find ways of meeting the needs of our growing population while protecting nature and preventing climate change.  Everyone – governments, businesses, communities and individuals – has a part to play in coming up with this new plan – a global deal for nature.


Living Planet 2018 Full Report 

Animal die-off's

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