The World Wildlife Fund has warned that more than two-thirds of the world’s greatest wildlife species, such as elephants, could be wiped out by 2020.
A new study titled ‘Living Planet 2016’ shows there could be a 67 per cent decline in wildlife globally because of human activities. The report was launched yesterday at Hotel Intercontinental in Kenya, Nairobi.
It says there has been a 58 per cent overall decline in the vertebrate population. The report says the population size of vertebrate species has averagely dropped by more than half in 40 years.
“There is an average annual decline of 2 per cent and no sign yet that this rate will reverse,” the report says, painting a bleak future. The study measured biodiversity by gathering population data of vertebrate species and calculating an average change in abundance overtime.
The index is based on scientific data from 14,152 monitored populations of 3,706 vertebrates from around the world. The report is published every two years. It says there has been a 38 per cent decline in terrestrial species from 1970 to 2012.
In 1979, there were an estimated 1.3 million African elephants. By 1989, only 600,000 remained. Kenya lost 90 per cent of elephants, from 167,000 to 16,000, in the 16-year period from 1973-89. The population has grown back to about 35,000 today.
From 1970-80, the number of black rhinos in Kenya dipped by more than 90 per cent, from 20,000 to 1,500 and continued to do so to 1990, when only 400 were left, marking 2 per cent of the 1970 population.
WWF conservation director Kenya Jared Bosire said changes are required across the food chain to reduce the pressure and adverse impact created by current food systems. “We need to shift to agricultural methods that grow food where it is needed and where it is suited and focus on yield optimisation within ecosystem boundaries,” he said.
The report shows that on average, the abundance of populations monitored on freshwater systems had declined by 81 per cent between 1970 and 2012, becoming the worst hit in history. “Humanity demands more than our planet can sustain. By 2012, the biocapacity equivalent of 1.6 earths was needed to provide natural resources and services.