Animals | Nature is disappearing at an unprecedented rate, says a recent report

To envy no forest elephant, hawksbill turtle, cap penguin or amazon dolphin. Their numbers have dwindled dramatically in a short time, and if the trend is not reversed, many populations may become extinct.

Forest elephants are threatened by the illegal ivory trade in Africa. The loggerhead turtle is under pressure due to habitat loss, climate change, illegal trade and entanglement in fishing nets.

Antarctic cap penguins are declining because climate change has altered the ice cover and reduced the penguins’ food, krill. The Amazon dolphin, or inia, on the other hand, is threatened by getting caught in nets and catching dolphins in Brazil.

The examples of individual species speak harshly about the state of nature globally as well as in Finland.

Environmental organization WWF’s recent Living planet report reminds us that the loss of nature is only getting worse and we are living in the middle of a wave of human-caused extinction.

According to a report published on Thursday, populations of vertebrate wildlife have declined by an average of 73 percent between 1970 and 2020 – three-quarters in just 50 years.

Two years ago, the estimate was 69 percent, and the most recent estimate includes more populations than before.

“All the time we are going in a worse direction. Although the loss of nature has been talked about for many years, real actions are lacking. Now it appears that time is running out. A huge number of issues arise when they have not been dealt with in time,” says WWF Finland’s general secretary Jari Luukkonen.

WWF’s report is based on the Living planet index, which looks at nearly 35,000 populations of 5,495 vertebrate animal species around the world.

The index describes relative changes in the size of wild animal populations, i.e. stocks, over the past fifty years. It does not say how much the numbers of species or individuals of wild animals have decreased.

The goal is to describe the general development of biodiversity.

The material includes mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish.

the biggest according to the report, one of the reasons for the shrinking of wild animal populations is land use that destroys natural habitats, especially for the needs of food production.

The unsustainable use of species, such as overfishing, harmful alien species, pollution and climate change are also pushing nature to the limit.

Looking at regions, the most worrying, downright catastrophic situation is in South America, where wild animal populations have decreased by as much as 95 percent in 50 years.

However, this does not mean that only five percent of the continent’s animals are left. The index means that the average size of the species’ populations has decreased by 95 percent. At the same time, of course, a huge number of individual animals have also disappeared.

The report According to the report, nature loss and climate change are driving the Earth closer and closer to so-called tipping points, which can have irreversible consequences.

Flashpoints would be, for example, the transformation of the Amazon rainforest from a carbon sink into a source of emissions and the collapse of fish stocks in the Baltic Sea.

In the Baltic Sea, for example, salmon is in dire straits and the cod stock has collapsed due to overfishing.

“Tipping points can be seen everywhere, and they should be avoided until the very end. The situation in the Amazon is really worrisome, as the region is currently experiencing a very bad forest fire season. Such situations should be able to be controlled”, says Luukkonen.

Positive ones too there have been twists and turns. Populations of species on the brink of extinction have been made to grow, from sea eagles to tigers, and renewable energy is becoming mainstream.

According to Luukkonen, a concrete example of the power of conservation is also the restoration of stream waters.

“Rautjärvi On Hiitolanjo we were able to dismantle the dams that were blocking the stream, and this year the numbers of the extremely endangered lake salmon doubled compared to last year,” says Luukkonen.

The nature of streams needs help, because the populations of freshwater species have suffered the most, according to the Living Planet report.

Direction to turn it around, concrete actions are needed both globally and at the European level as well as in Finland, Luukkonen emphasizes.

According to WWF, the protection of old forests should be started in Finland and the restoration of nature should be started properly and subsidies harmful to nature should be stopped.

“The criteria for old forests defined now are ridiculously strict. The challenge in restoration is funding, which has always been very small in Finland. At the same time, projects that destroy nature are supported with taxpayers’ money,” Luukkonen lists.

On the other hand, there was a backlash at the EU level when the deforestation regulation was postponed.

“In practice, it means that deforestation is allowed to continue on behalf of the EU.”

According to Luukkonen, in Finland we only look at our own benefit, even though there are huge things happening globally all the time.

“The important thing is to understand that nothing can be done without limits. Humanity’s biggest challenge is reducing the consumption of natural resources,” Luukkonen emphasizes.

This fall, the decision-makers have the opportunity to change the direction of development at the UN Nature Conference in Colombia and the Climate Conference in Azerbaijan. The nature meeting starts just over a week from now, on October 21.