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News: HALF of world's animals have disappeared since 1970
Member Since: 7/31/2007
Posts: 8,201
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HALF of world's animals have disappeared since 1970
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The world populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles fell overall by 52 percent between 1970 and 2010, far faster than previously thought, the World Wildlife Fund said on Tuesday.
The conservation group's Living Planet Report, published every two years, said humankind's demands were now 50 percent more than nature can bear, with trees being felled, groundwater pumped and carbon dioxide emitted faster than Earth can recover.
"This damage is not inevitable but a consequence of the way we choose to live," Ken Norris, Director of Science at the Zoological Society of London, said in a statement.
However, there was still hope if politicians and businesses took the right action to protect nature, the report said.
"It is essential that we seize the opportunity – while we still can – to develop sustainably and create a future where people can live and prosper in harmony with nature,” said WWF International Director General Marco Lambertini.
Preserving nature was not just about protecting wild places but also about safeguarding the future of humanity, "indeed, our very survival," he said.
The report's finding on the populations of vertebrate wildlife found that the biggest declines were in tropical regions, especially Latin America. The WWF's so-called "Living Planet Index" is based on trends in 10,380 populations of 3,038 mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian and fish species.
The average 52 percent decline was much bigger than previously reported, partly because earlier studies had relied more on readily available information from North America and Europe, WWF said. The same report two years ago put the decline at 28 percent between 1970 and 2008.
The worst decline was among populations of freshwater species, which fell by 76 percent over the four decades to 2010, while marine and terrestrial numbers both fell by 39 percent.
"ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT"
The main reasons for declining populations were the loss of natural habitats, exploitation through hunting or fishing, and climate change.
To gauge the variations between different countries' environmental impact, the report measured how big an "ecological footprint" each one had and how much productive land and water area, or "biocapacity", each country accounted for.
Kuwaitis had the biggest ecological footprint, meaning they consume and waste more resources per head than any other nation, the report said, followed by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
"If all people on the planet had the footprint of the average resident of Qatar, we would need 4.8 planets. If we lived the lifestyle of a typical resident of the USA, we would need 3.9 planets," the report said.
Many poorer countries - including India, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo - had an ecological footprint that was well within the planet's ability to absorb their demands.
The report also measured how close the planet is to nine so-called "planetary boundaries", thresholds of "potentially catastrophic changes to life as we know it".
Three such thresholds have already been crossed - biodiversity, carbon dioxide levels and nitrogen pollution from fertilisers. Two more were in danger of being breached - ocean acidification and phosphorus levels in freshwater.
"Given the pace and scale of change, we can no longer exclude the possibility of reaching critical tipping points that could abruptly and irreversibly change living conditions on Earth," the report said.
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The end is near.
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 35,912
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If all people on the planet had the footprint of the average resident of Qatar, we would need 4.8 planets. If we lived the lifestyle of a typical resident of the USA, we would need 3.9 planets
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dayummm.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 11,675
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That's terrible. 
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Member Since: 1/6/2014
Posts: 1,893
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Mother Earth will get ha revenge and shake us off like fleas.
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Member Since: 5/23/2007
Posts: 65,087
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This is sad
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 40,803
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Member Since: 6/6/2011
Posts: 3,476
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This is scary.
It's sad that humanity may never come together to fix the real issues were causing on Earth. 
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Member Since: 11/26/2010
Posts: 14,197
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 15,668
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This is sad
Maybe the world is in need of a mass disease...
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Banned
Member Since: 2/6/2012
Posts: 18,398
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Member Since: 12/16/2010
Posts: 8,041
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This is so sad
Honestly we all deserve to disappear
Humans are not worthy of living
I hope the earth will explode very soon.
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Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 21,846
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We are destroying this earth 
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Member Since: 11/18/2010
Posts: 2,109
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Hope the world ends tbh
but only after I'm like 98 yo and ready to die
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Member Since: 1/8/2012
Posts: 11,352
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Quote:
Originally posted by jeeriz
This is so sad
Honestly we all deserve to disappear
Humans are not worthy of living
I hope the earth will explode very soon. |
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Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 23,412
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I blame people that eat too much.
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Member Since: 12/7/2011
Posts: 21,578
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Quote:
Originally posted by jeeriz
This is so sad
Honestly we all deserve to disappear
Humans are not worthy of living
I hope the earth will explode very soon. |
Lets not go too far
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 68,548
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Poor animals
I'm sure something will be done, but maybe it'll be too late 
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Member Since: 11/18/2008
Posts: 60,607
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This is really sad, and the saddest part is we humans have done it  imagine how it'll be in 50 more years 
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Member Since: 11/10/2011
Posts: 870
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This thread, and the article, are WILDLY misleading, and you need to change the title before people freak out even more,
"Living Planet Index" is based on trends in 10,380 populations of 3,038 mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian and fish species.
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According to Mammal Species of the World, 3rd Edition (Wilson and Reeder 2005), the most recent authoritative published checklist of modern mammal species, there are 5,416 different species of mammals.
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Avibase is an extensive database information system about all birds of the world, containing over 12 million records about 10,000 species and 22,000 subspecies of birds, including distribution information, taxonomy, synonyms in several languages and more.
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The various fish groups account for more than half of vertebrate species. There are almost 28,000 known extant species, of which almost 27,000 are bony fish, with 970 sharks, rays, and chimeras and about 108 hagfish and lampreys.
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There are about 8,225 species of reptiles in the world. About 9000 species of reptiles (Class Reptilia) have been discovered
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AmphibiaWeb database currently contains 7,325 amphibian species (Sep 29,
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Now, I want you to tell me if 89,226 species EXCLUDING insects is accurate for a 3,038 sample size. Did half of the world's animals disappear still? Reading the article is important, guys.
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Member Since: 8/3/2010
Posts: 71,871
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Quote:
Originally posted by jeeriz
This is so sad
Honestly we all deserve to disappear
Humans are not worthy of living
I hope the earth will explode very soon. |
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