indiatoday.in
World's wildlife down 73% since 1970, but India's big cats defy the slide
The world’s monitored wildlife populations have shrunk by an average of 73 per cent in 52 years, according to WWF’s Living Planet Report 2026, released on October 8. But the report, produced with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), argues the slide is not inevitable, and points to India’s big cats as evidence. The Living Planet Index draws on 35,803 population trends across 5,790 vertebrate species between 1970 and 2022. Freshwater ecosystems fared worst, with an 85 per cent fall, followed by terrestrial (69 per cent) and marine (59 per cent). Latin America and the Caribbean saw the steepest regional decline at 95 per cent, then Africa at 80 per cent and Asia-Pacific at 49 per cent. North America (28 per cent) and Europe and Central Asia (23 per cent) show smaller falls, partly because large-scale damage there predates 1970. The figure does not mean 73 per cent of animals have vanished. It is the average proportional change in monitored populations. Half of those populations are stable (7 per cent) or increasing (43 per cent), but the declines are larger than the gains. Habitat loss is the most commonly reported threat, followed by overexploitation, climate change, pollution, invasive species and...
