Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
Despite the decline, the lead author of the report sounds a cautious note of optimism.
Nearly 6,000 vertebrate species are tracked across more than 35,000 populations in a global index managed by the Zoological Society of London and WWF.
The new edition sets the baseline that governments will have to answer for in Yerevan this month.
The average size of monitored wildlife populations has fallen 73% between 1970 and 2022, according to the Living Planet Report 2026, published Thursday by WWF.
The headline figure masks sharper regional collapses, with Latin America and the Caribbean down 95% and Africa down 80%, while Asia-Pacific populations declined 49%.
Freshwater ecosystems registered the steepest ecosystem-level drop at 85%, with terrestrial populations down 69% and marine species down 59%.
Food systems named as the chief driver
The authors identify how food is produced and consumed as the leading pressure on biodiversity, with climate change ranked as a secondary and accelerating factor.
The underlying Living Planet Index, maintained by the Zoological Society of London, now covers 5,790 species and 35,803 populations over 52 years.
Dr Louise McRae, who leads the index at ZSL, said “This year’s Living Planet Index shows the need for rapid action to address the continued decline in biodiversity.”
Tanya Steele, chief executive of WWF-UK, framed the costs in economic terms. “Nature loss is not just a crisis for wildlife. It’s already sending us the bill through growing risks to our food security, water supplies, economy and resilience to climate shocks,” she said.
A $942 billion gap heading into COP17
The findings land ahead of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity’s seventeenth Conference of the Parties, which runs October 19 to 30 in Yerevan, Armenia. COP17 will host the first global review of progress on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreed in 2022.
The report pegs the annual biodiversity finance gap at $942 billion. BloombergNEF puts current flows at about $208 billion a year against a projected 2030 need of $1.15 trillion.
Recoveries show the direction can turn
Half of the monitored populations are stable or growing, the report notes. Wild tiger numbers have risen roughly 70% since 2010, and green sea turtles have been downlisted from Endangered to Least Concern.
Mike Barrett, chief scientific advisor at WWF and lead author of the report, sounded a cautious note of optimism.
“The science is telling us that although humanity has done the most appalling things to this planet for many decades, it’s not too late. We can still end the loss of nature and indeed reverse it,” he said.
COP17 opens in 11 days and runs through October 30, with national delegations due to submit updated biodiversity action plans against the 2030 targets.
