Living Planet Report

The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) published the Living Planet Report in collaboration with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL.) It is a biennial report (published every two years.) ZSL manages the living planet index (LPI) that too is released along with the report.

This article is important for the IAS Exam preparation as the report brings out key findings related to biodiversity, challenges to nature and suggestions to heal nature. All these are important topics under GS 3 of UPSC Mains.

This article will provide you with the latest information published in Living Planet Report 2022.

Living Planet Report 2022

Key findings  of the Living Planet Report 2022 –

1. Decline in Freshwater Species:
   • Population of Freshwater Species reduced by 83% globally.
     • Habitat loss and barriers to migration routes were responsible for about half of the threats to monitored migratory fish species.
2. Collapsing Vertebrate Wildlife Populations:
   • Living Planet Index (LPI) showed that vertebrate wildlife populations are collapsing at a particularly staggering rate in tropical regions of the world.
   • Featuring about 32,000 populations of 5,230 species across the world, LPI is a measure of the state of the world’s biological diversity based on population trends of vertebrate species from terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats.
3. Region-wise Decline in Wildlife Populations:
   • The highest decline in the wildlife populations was in Latin America with (94%) and the Caribbean region.
   • Africa recorded a 66% fall in its wildlife populations from 1970-2018 whereas the Asia-Pacific recorded a decline of 55%.
4. Mangrove Degradation:
   • Mangroves continue to be lost to aquaculture, agriculture and coastal development at a rate of 0.13% per year.
     • Many mangroves are also degraded by overexploitation and pollution, alongside natural stressors such as storms and coastal erosion.
   • Around 137 square kilometres of the Sundarbans mangrove forest in India and Bangladesh has been eroded since 1985, reducing land and ecosystem services for many of the 10 million people who live there.
5. Key Threats to Biodiversity identified by WWF:
   • WWF identified six key threats to biodiversity to highlight ‘threat hotspots’ for terrestrial vertebrates:
     • Agriculture
     • Hunting
     • Logging
     • Pollution
     • Invasive Species
     • Climate Change

Living Planet Report 2022- Recommendations

• The planet is experiencing double emergencies of human-induced climate change and biodiversity loss, threatening the well-being of current and future generations. Biodiversity loss and climate crisis should be dealt with as one instead of two different issues as they are intertwined.
• A nature-positive future needs transformative, game-changing shifts in how we produce, how we consume, how we govern and what we finance.
• An all-inclusive collective approach towards a more sustainable path must be adopted. It will ensure that the costs and benefits from our actions are socially just and equitably shared.

Living Planet Report 2020

1. Living Planet Report 2020 – 13th edition. The report urges world leaders to “build a more sustainable, resilient and healthy post Covid world for people and nature.”
2. Living Planet Index is declining – Between 1970 and 2016, an average 68 percent decrease is reported in population sizes of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fishes.
3. World’s largest fall in the Living Planet Index is witnessed in subregions of America – 94 percent decline in LPI.
4. Biodiversity on the brink:
   1. Rise in Ocean Pollution – Most of the oceans are polluted
   2. Alteration of landmasses – 75 percent of the ice-free land surface has been altered
   3. Loss of wetlands – 85 percent of the wetland areas have been lost
5. Threatened with Extinction species – 1 million species (10 lakhs animals, plants and insects) are threatened with extinction.
6. Freshwater living planet index – One in three freshwater species is threatened with extinction.
   1. 4 percent decline per year since 1970 is witnessed in the population of freshwater species.
   2. Megafauna species exposed to anthropogenic threats
7. Since 1970, human ecological footprints have exceeded the earth’s biocapacity.
8. Loss in terrestrial habitats due to:
   1. Change in land-uses
   2. Conversion of pristine native habitats like forests, mangroves and grasslands into agricultural systems.
   3. Doubling of world human population
   4. Trade increase
9. The report is a reminder of the Paris Agreement which pledges to limit human-induced climate change. The living planet report mentions global emissions of greenhouse gases to be the same in the 2030s.
10. A rise of 3-4 degrees celsius projected against the 1.5-degree celsius aspirant target.
11. Biodiversity is declining at different rates in different places. The reports mentioned the following as threats to the biodiversity:
    1. Changes in land and sea use, including habitat loss and degradation
    2. Species overexploitation
    3. Invasive species and diseases
    4. Pollution
    5. Climate Change
12. Catastrophic events that led to biodiversity loss in India – In 2019, exceptionally hot and long heatwaves led to extreme droughts.

Suggestions Tabled by Living Planet Report 2020

1. Need for a transformational change:
   1. Increased conservation efforts
   2. Change in ways of production and consumption of food and energy
   3. Collective efforts at all levels – government, citizens, business leaders collectively step ahead to reverse climate change.
2. Making connections from land to sea – Scaling up assessments of the environmental impacts of food systems 43, by mapping synergies and trade-offs of biodiversity protection on human well-being, could help us to better understand the influence of feedbacks on sustainability pathways
3. Climate mitigation and reduction of human stressors to reverse negative changes in the sea systems:
   1. Plastic pollution to be curtailed
   2. Overfishing to be prohibited
4. Dietary changes and restrictions on land conversion can make reversing biodiversity decline possible after 2020.
5. New deal for nature and people – Set of new goals and target to see us on the path to recovery by 2030.
6. A fight against the novel coronavirus disease will guide the world in times ahead as the disease is one of the major connections between people’ health and the planet.
7. Efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can help reverse biodiversity loss.

Living Planet Report 2022 – UPSC Notes:-Download PDF Here

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