Ecobiz.asia – The average size of monitored wildlife populations has fallen 73% over the past 52 years, highlighting the scale of the global biodiversity crisis, although WWF says successful conservation efforts show that nature can still recover.
The finding comes from WWF’s Living Planet Report 2026, which tracks 35,803 population trends covering 5,790 vertebrate species from 1970 to 2022. Freshwater ecosystems recorded the steepest decline at 85%, followed by terrestrial ecosystems at 69% and marine ecosystems at 59%.
The report also found that 50% of the wildlife populations included in the Living Planet Index (LPI) are either stable or increasing, although the overall index continues to decline because the magnitude of population losses exceeds the gains.
“Biodiversity continues to be degraded at an alarming pace. Yet amid these steep declines, there are grounds for hope,” said Kirsten Schuijt, Director General of WWF International in a statement on Thursday (Oct. 8, 2026)
She pointed to recoveries in species including tigers, bluefin tuna and green turtles as evidence that sustained conservation efforts can deliver results.
“Recoveries in populations of species like tigers, bluefin tuna and green turtles show what years of sustained collective conservation effort can achieve,” Schuijt said.
The LPI measures changes in monitored populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish. WWF stressed that the 73% figure represents the average proportional decline in the size of monitored wildlife populations since 1970, rather than a 73% loss of individual animals or species.
Food, Energy and Finance Drive Nature Loss
WWF said habitat loss and degradation remain the most frequently reported threats to monitored wildlife populations, followed by overexploitation, climate change, pollution, invasive species and disease.
The report links these pressures to three major economic systems: food, energy and finance. The food system is the leading driver of habitat loss, the energy system is a major source of climate change, while the financial system continues to channel capital into activities that harm nature.
WWF estimates that the world faces an annual US$1.3 trillion biodiversity financing gap, highlighting the need for financial systems to better account for nature and climate risks.
Schuijt said conservation efforts would not be enough unless the economic systems driving nature loss were also transformed.
“To continue and expand these conservation successes, the industries and systems which drive nature loss need to be transformed,” she said.
“Progress is already underway. Not everywhere, and not yet at the scale required, but enough to demonstrate that change is possible,” Schuijt added.
Recovery Shows Change Is Possible
The report highlights several examples of wildlife recovery. Global wild tiger numbers increased by more than 70% between 2010 and 2025, while Atlantic and Pacific bluefin tuna populations have recovered following measures to reduce fishing pressure and improve management.
The green sea turtle was also downlisted from Endangered to Least Concern on the IUCN Red List in 2025 after decades of coordinated conservation efforts across around 80 nesting countries.
Andrew Terry, Chief Conservation Officer at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), said the recovery stories demonstrate that biodiversity decline is not inevitable.
“These declines are not inevitable, and change is possible. Nature can recover, and the stories within the Index are a powerful reminder of this,” Terry said.
The report argues that broader systemic changes could accelerate the recovery of nature by triggering so-called positive tipping points, where shifts toward healthier systems become self-reinforcing.
It identifies progress in the energy transition, sustainable food production and efforts to reduce food loss and waste, while saying the financial system remains at an earlier stage of transformation.
WWF said governments have an opportunity to accelerate implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Paris Agreement as global biodiversity and climate negotiations approach.
Biodiversity COP17, beginning Oct. 19 in Yerevan, Armenia, will be an important opportunity to accelerate action toward the 2030 biodiversity targets, WWF said. ***
