World Wildlife Fund’s Biennial Living Planet Report Brings Endangered Species into Focus
- NPG
- September 14, 2020
- NPG Commentary
- 1 Comment
World Wildlife Fund’s Biennial Living Planet Report Brings Endangered Species into Focus
Understanding the Decline of Species on our Planet and the Connection to Exponential Growth
Animal population around the world has declined 70% in the last 50 years, according to a new report issued by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Published every two years, the report is meant to be a call to action for world leaders to work together for a healthy, resilient, and sustainable world for people and nature. The WWF’s Living Planet Report 2020 “provides the scientific evidence to back what nature has been demonstrating repeatedly: unsustainable human activity is pushing the planet’s natural systems that support life on Earth to the edge.”
Main points from the Living Planet Report include:
- Wildlife population sizes are in decline
- The Latin America and Caribbean region of the world is the most affected
- 85% of global wetlands have been lost since the Industrial Revolution
- Human activity is the main driver of (animal) population decline
- Habitat destruction could mean more pandemics
WWF U.S. president and CEO Carter Roberts released a statement, saying: “This report reminds us that we destroy the planet at our peril — because it is our home. As humanity’s footprint expands into once-wild places, we’re devastating species populations. But we’re also exacerbating climate change and increasing the risk of zoonotic diseases like COVID-19. We cannot shield humanity from the impacts of environmental destruction. It’s time to restore our broken relationship with nature for the benefit of species and people alike.” Humans are certainly to blame for the high volume loss of wildlife in the past 50 years. Continued expansion of infrastructure and continued growth of consumption, population, and global trade has played the biggest role, to date, in endangering wildlife around the world.
NPG believes that the preservation of our natural spaces and wildlife is paramount. As natural support for human life rapidly declines – it is up to us, our governments, and business leaders, as well – to work together to protect these irreplaceable habitats and species. It is vital that we heed this report’s dire predictions and that we push to enact and enforce efforts to shield these endangered animals from extinction. Those efforts must include a slow and gradual reduction in human population numbers.
Explore our Forum paper series to read more on population issues, particularly:
Crushing Biodiversity with the Weight of the Human Race, by Leon Kolankiewicz
Humans are Making Oceans Warmer, Deeper, and Life Threatening, by Edwin S. Rubenstein
It’s Complicated: The Role of Land in Global Warming, by Edwin S. Rubenstein
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Dr. J. H. Theis
One of the significant reasons for habitat destruction is property taxes. In New Hampshire there is a designation for property called Current Use. Property owners can place land into this designation as long as the land has not been altered from its natural state. By doing so the property tax is lowered by about 2/3 eds. To remove land from Current use status costs the property owner about 2,000 dollars per acre and the property tax reduction is lost. The second problem is political. Wildlife do not vote and politicians that favor wildlife over humans do not stay in office very long. Lobbyists for the developers support politicians that legislate for development and local governments want more development so they have more tax money to build their empires. States without state income tax, there are 9 in the US, primarily depend on property taxes to support the budget. Regulations protecting Wet Lands in New Hampshire are very clear, the problem is local planning boards find ways to ignore these regulations when it means more development is permitted. Unfortunately the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, which is supposed to enforce these regulations, is vastly under staffed and has to rely on local Conservation Commissions to alert them to violations of Wet Land rules.The support of most States Fish and Game departments are NOT line items in the State budget and have to rely on hunting licenses, park admission fees, federal grants, and other uncertain fees to support their personnel and are thus understaffed. If wild lands are to be preserved and wildlife protected the elimination of these pro development measures must be addressed. People will have to give ground for the protection of the environment. This is a matter that must be addressed as an Educational issue in our schools which, at present, is not being done. Some years ago I read the State of California educational guide lines for the Biological section for K-12 students. The recommendations for comparing human needs vs animal needs were as follows: Humans need clean water,pure air, good food and a safe place to live. Animals need water, air, food and a place to live. All the descriptive adjectives had been removed thus inferring that any water any air any food and any place was adequate for animals. When this incorrect attitude forms the basis of our educational efforts to sensitize the next generations attitude towards environmental issues what can we expect.