Land-use change is still the biggest current threat to nature, destroying or fragmenting the natural habitats of many plant and animal species on land, in freshwater and in the sea. However, if we are unable to limit warming to 1.5°C, climate change is likely to become the dominant cause of biodiversity loss in the coming decades. Rising temperatures are already driving mass mortality events, as well as the first extinctions of entire species. Every degree of warming is expected to increase these losses and the impact they have on people. We feature 3 stories of people on the frontline and
how they are dealing with the consequences of local changes in climate and biodiversity.

Biodiversity indicators help us understand how our natural world is changing over time. Tracking the health of nature over almost 50 years, the Living Planet Index acts as an early warning indicator by tracking trends in the abundance of mammals, fish, reptiles, birds and amphibians around the world.

In its most comprehensive finding to date, this edition shows an average 69% decline in the relative abundance of monitored wildlife populations around the world between 1970 and 2018. Latin America shows the greatest regional decline in average population abundance (94%), while freshwater species populations have seen the greatest overall global decline (83%). The Living Planet Report, WWF’s flagship publication released every two years, is a comprehensive study of trends in global biodiversity and the health of the planet.

The Living Planet Report 2022 is the 14th edition of the report and 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.

Through multiple indicators including the Living Planet Index (LPI), provided by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), it shows an average 69% fall in almost 32,000 wildlife populations between 1970 and 2018.

The report calls on world leaders to come together to build a more sustainable, resilient and healthy post COVID-19 world for people and nature.