Wildlife numbers plummet 73 percent over past half-century, report finds

World Wildlife Fund says species like the pink river dolphins of the Amazon and forest elephants in Gabon are in sharp decline.

Wildlife populations across the globe have shrunk by more than 70 percent over the past half-century, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

The conservation charity published a stocktake on Thursday, assessing more than 5,000 species of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish, warning that habitats like the Amazon rainforest were reaching “tipping points”, with potentially “catastrophic consequences” for “most species”.

The Living Planet Report found the 35,000 populations under review had fallen 73 percent since 1970, mostly due to human pressures. The biggest decline was recorded in populations of freshwater species, followed by terrestrial and marine vertebrates.

Among the snapshots provided, the report found that the population of pink river and tucuxi dolphins in the Brazilian state of Amazonas declined by 65 percent and 57 percent respectively as a result of hunting, with climate change also threatening their survival.

In Gabon, the number of forest elephants had declined by 78 to 81 percent, with WWF researchers finding “strong evidence” of poaching for the ivory trade. With almost half the continent’s forest elephants in Gabon, the decline was considered a “considerable setback” for the future of the species.