Reversing the Global Wildlife Decline

Context

World Wildlife Fund has released its annual Living Planet Report 2020 stating the rapid decline of Biodiversity.

BackgroundWWF has revealed the shocking facts of huge Biodiversity loss in the last few decades, in its Living Planet Report 2020. The global Living Planet Index continues to decline. It shows an average of 68% decrease in population sizes of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish between 1970 and 2016. A 94% decline in the LPI for the tropical sub-regions of the Americas is the largest fall observed in any part of the world.

Importance of Recovery to Sustain Human Life

The biodiversity is fundamental to human life on Earth, and we have huge evidence in support of it, it is being destroyed by us at a rate unprecedented in history. Since the industrial revolution, human activities have increasingly destroyed and degraded forests, grasslands, wetlands and other important ecosystems, threatening human well-being. Seventy-five per cent of the Earth’s ice-free land surface has already been significantly altered, most of the oceans are polluted, and more than 85% of the area of wetlands has been lost.

Species population trends are important because they are a measure of overall ecosystem health. Measuring biodiversity, the variety of all living things, is complex, and there is no single measure that can capture all of the changes in this web of life. Even then, the vast majority of indicators show net declines over recent decades.

That’s because in the last 50 years our world has been transformed by an explosion in global trade, consumption and human population growth, as well as an enormous move towards urbanization. Until 1970, humanity’s Ecological Footprint was smaller than the Earth’s rate of regeneration. To feed and fuel our 21st century lifestyles, we are overusing the Earth’s bio-capacity by at least 56%.

Biodiversity loss threatens food security and urgent action is needed to address the loss of the biodiversity that feeds the world.

These underlying trends are driving the unrelenting destruction of nature, with only a handful of countries retaining most of the last remaining wilderness areas. Our natural world is transforming more rapidly than ever before, and climate change is further accelerating the change.

Threats to Biodiversity

Changing Pattern of Land and Sea Use

Common changes in use are caused by unsustainable agriculture, logging, transportation, residential or commercial development, energy production and mining. For freshwater habitats, fragmentation of rivers and streams and abstraction of water are common threats.

Species Overexploitation

There are both direct and indirect forms of overexploitation. Direct overexploitation refers to unsustainable hunting and poaching or harvesting, whether for subsistence or for trade. Indirect overexploitation occurs when non-target species are killed unintentionally, for example as bycatch in fisheries.

Invasive Species and Disease

Invasive species can compete with native species for space, food and other resources, can turn out to be a predator for native species, or spread diseases that were not previously present in the environment. Humans also transport new diseases from one area of the globe to another.

Pollution

Pollution can directly affect a species by making the environment unsuitable for its survival (this is what happens, for example, in the case of an oil spill). It can also affect a species indirectly, by affecting food availability or reproductive performance, thus reducing population numbers over time.

Climate

With change in average temperatures, some species will need to adapt by shifting their range to track a suitable climate. The effects of climate change on species are often indirect. Changes in temperature can confound the signals that trigger seasonal events such as migration and reproduction, causing these events to happen at the wrong time
(for example misaligning reproduction and the period of greater food availability in a specific habitat).

Actions Need to be Taken

The targets of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity call for global trends of terrestrial wildlife to stop declining and start recovering by 2050 or earlier. Changes in how land is used, from pristine forest to cropland or pasture positioned among the greatest threats to biodiversity on land worldwide.

Two key areas of action stand out from the rest. First, there must be renewed ambition from the world’s governments to establish large scale conservation areas, placed in the most valuable hotspots for biodiversity worldwide, such as small islands with species found nowhere else. These reserves, in which wildlife will live and roam freely, will need to cover at least 40% of the world’s land surface to help bend the curve from decline to recovery for species and entire ecosystems.

Second, we must transform our food systems to produce more on less land. If every farmer on Earth used the best available farming practices, only half of the total area of cropland would be needed to feed the world. There are lots of other inefficiencies that could be ironed out too, by reducing the amount of waste produced during transport and food processing, for example. Society at large can help in this effort by shifting towards healthier and more sustainable diets, and reducing food waste.

This should happen alongside efforts to restore degraded land, such as farmland that’s becoming unproductive as a result of soil erosion, and land that’s no longer needed as agriculture becomes more efficient and diets shift. This could return 8% of the world’s land to nature by 2050. It will be necessary to plan how the remaining land is used, to balance food production and other uses with the conservation of wild spaces.

A comprehensive set of policy measures that transform our relationship with the land and rapidly scale down pollution can build the necessary momentum and that transformative changes in our food systems and how we plan and use land will have the biggest benefits for biodiversity.

Conclusion

The Living Planet Report 2020 shows that there is an opportunity to heal our relationship with nature and mitigate risks of future pandemics but this better future starts with the decisions that governments, companies and people around the world take today.

World leaders must take urgent action to protect and restore nature as the foundation for a healthy society and a thriving economy. We still have a chance to put things right. It’s time for the world to agree a New Deal for Nature and People, committing to stop and reverse the loss of nature by the end of this decade and build a carbon-neutral and nature-positive economy and society.

This is our best safeguard for human health and livelihoods in the long term, and to ensure a safe future for our children and children’s children.

We can estimate the value of natural capital- the planet’s stock of renewable and non-renewable natural resources, like plants, soils and minerals alongside values of produced and human capital, for example, roads and skills, which together form a measure of a country’s true wealth.

Data from the United Nations Environment Programme shows that, per person, our global stock of natural capital has declined by nearly 40% since the early 1990s, while produced capital has doubled and human capital has increased by 13%.

Together this evidence shows that biodiversity conservation is more than an ethical commitment for humanity: it is a non-negotiable and strategic investment to preserve our health, wealth and security.

Connecting the Article

Question for Prelims

Which of the following activities can lead to biodiversity loss?

1. Scientific Agricultural Practices
2. Jhum Cultivation
3. Scientific Irrigation

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1 only
(c) 2 only
(d) 1 and 3 only

Question for Mains

A number of potential environmental concerns are evident, and if the concerns are not addressed they would pose significant risks for all living beings on earth. Throw light.