How Africa's monitored wildlife shrunk by 76% in 50 years

By Sylvia Chebet

There's a rumble in the jungle, ripe with consequences for humanity.

WWF International's 2024 Living Planet Report states that in 50 years until 2020, monitored wildlife populations worldwide shrunk on average by almost three quarters.

The Living Planet Index, treated as a measure of the state of the world's biological diversity based on population trends of vertebrate species from terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats, puts the decline in Africa at 76%.

The fastest drop was in Latin America and the Caribbean (95%), while North America registered an average decline of 39%. Europe and Central Asia clocked an average shrinkage rate of 35%.

"These figures are alarming for all of us who care about the state of our natural world," WWF International's director general Kirsten Schuijt notes in the report.

Experts attribute the trend to habitat loss, overexploitation, and pollution. Other threats include the proliferation of invasive species, diseases and climate change.

Schuijt reckons that the decline is "an indicator of the unrelenting pressure caused by the dual climate and nature loss crises − and the threat of breakdown to the natural regulatory system that underpins our living planet".

Freshwater populations have suffered the strongest declines (85%), followed by terrestrial (69%) and marine ecosystems (56%).

According to experts, this reflects the increasing pressures placed on rivers, lakes, oceans, and wetlands from excessive grazing, fishing, land use, deforestation, pollution, and water abstraction.

Freshwater fish, for example, are often threatened by dams and other alterations to their habitat, all of which block their migration routes.

Food production is the leading cause of habitat loss, accounting for 70% of water use and responsible for over a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions.

The latter contributes to the rapid heating of the earth.

The WWF report warns that ecosystem degradation could push the continent past critical tipping points unless targeted recovery and action plans are urgently implemented.

According to the report, what happens in the next five years will determine the future of life on Earth.

So, is it all gloom and doom for the world?

"While time is running out, we are not yet past the point of no return," reassures Schuijt.

"The power and opportunity to change the trajectory are in our hands."

African template

Kenya is seen as a beacon in conservation efforts after achieving various milestones, proving that consistency and collaborative interventions will help save species from extinction and ensure they thrive.

Amid the decline in global wildlife populations, the East African nation has restored the dwindling count of priority species such as the African lion, the elephant, and the black rhino.

Intense conservation efforts have stabilised the situation and led to an increase in numbers across all three species.

"The rebounding of the black rhino in Kenya from 400 individuals in the 1980s to 1,004 in 2023 is a huge milestone for this critically endangered species," Jackson Kiplagat, head of conservation programmes at WWF-Kenya, tells TRT Afrika.

Kenya has laid out ambitious targets in its National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans to ensure the restoration of ecosystems and sustainable use of biological diversity.

"Kenya is at the forefront of making significant contributions to fight climate change and restore nature, having committed to the Global Biodiversity Framework and the Paris Agreement, among other global and national commitments," says Mohamed Awer, chief executive officer at WWF-Kenya.

"The redoubling of the nation's ambition to achieve the Bonn Challenge to restore 10.6 million hectares of degraded landscapes is a step in the right direction."

Marathon mentality

These efforts are, however, far from adequate.

Concerted efforts across the continent and worldwide are required to meet global goals on nature, climate and sustainable development by 2030.

"If we are to stop nature loss at the scale needed to avoid global and devastating tipping points, climate finance must flow from the global level to the grassroots to build the resilience of local communities bearing the brunt of nature loss and climate change," says Awer.

The WWF report is yet another early warning indicator of increasing extinction risk and the potential loss of ecosystem function and resilience.

It affords the world an opportunity to intervene in time to reverse negative trends, recover species populations, and keep ecosystems functioning and resilient.

➤Click here to follow our WhatsApp channel for more stories.