Shocking report states that wildlife populations have declined by over half in less than 50 years due to human activity

"Exploding human consumption" has caused a massive drop in global wildlife populations in recent decades, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) points out in their Living Planet Report. The WWF makes it clear that: "Plummeting numbers of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish around the world are an urgent sign that nature needs life support. The Living Planet Report 2018 shows population sizes of wildlife decreased by 60% globally between 1970 and 2014." As the WWF state in their "Our Impact" statement: "Humans have only been around for 200,000 years, a tiny blip in the 4.5 billion years of our planet’s history. Yet we have had a greater impact on the Earth than any other species. All over the world, we are cutting down forests, using too much water from rivers, choking our oceans with plastic and pushing many animals to extinction."  The report urges policy makers to set new targets for sustainable development.

This latest report comes only weeks after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued an alarming report on global warming. It stated “Climate-related risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security, and economic growth are projected to increase with global warming of 1.5°C and increase further with 2°C.” There can be no doubt that changing to a more sustainable way of living is clearly the way forward. Policies have to be adopted by governments around the world that carefully maintain a balance between population, infrastructure and environment. The limitations of a simple focus on gross national product and population growth as a measure of economic success have to be ended. As pointed out by the campaigning organisation Population Matters: "We all seek and deserve a decent quality of life on a healthy planet. We have only one Earth." It is time to put an end to the type of greed and selfishness that will bring the world to catastrophe.