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Environment

Wildlife populations are seeing 'catastrophic' rapid declines

By Donna Lu

10 September 2020

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Wildlife populations across the world have declined drastically over the past 50 years

Martin Harvey / WWF

Global wildlife populations are declining rapidly, according to the 2020 Living Planet Report by the conservation group WWF. It reveals that global populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have fallen an average of 68 per cent globally since 1970, declining at a rate faster than previously predicted.

“Let’s be clear: this is catastrophic,” says Mark Wright at WWF in the UK. “Despite ongoing verbal and written commitments by governments around the world and by businesses around the world to seriously address the climate crisis… we are…

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