Living Planet Report 2020

• 11 Sep 2020

The Living Planet Report is published every two years by the World Wide Fund for Nature. It is based on the Living Planet Index and ecological footprint calculations.

• The Living Planet Report is the world's leading, science-based analysis, on the health of our planet and the impact of human activity.

Key Findings

• Our planet’s wildlife populations have now plummeted by 68% since 1970 and there are no signs that this downward trend is slowing.
• 84% decline in population of freshwater species, including fish birds, amphibians and mammals - the starkest average population decline in any biome since 1970.
• 1/3 freshwater or riverine species threatened with extinction.
• 85% area under wetlands that has already been lost worldwide.
• 75 per cent of the Earth’s ice-free land surface has already been significantly altered, most of the oceans are polluted.
• The largest wildlife population loss, according to the Living Planet Index, has been in Latin America at an alarming 94 per cent.
• Almost 90 per cent of global wetlands have been lost since 1700.
• The report finds that India has lost nearly one-third of its natural wetlands to urbanisation, agricultural expansion and pollution over the last four decades.
• 14 out of 20 river basins in India are already water stressed and will be moving to extreme water scarcity by 2050.

Factors behind Planet’s Vulnerability

• Land-use change and the use and trade of wildlife
• Species overexploitation (like overfishing)
• Invasive species and diseases
• Pollution and climate change