A planet in peril

The World Wide Fund for Nature’s Living Planet Index reveals a continent, and a planet in peril.

The latest Living Planet Index, released internationally today, shows a 73% decline in the average size of monitored wildlife populations in 50 years (1970-2020).

The 15th edition of WWF’s biennial flagship publication, the Living Planet Report, shows that we are approaching dangerous, irreversible planetary tipping points driven by the twin threats of nature loss and climate change.

What the report shows

The latest Living Planet Index (LPI) shows that:

• The strongest decline has been in freshwater ecosystems (85%), followed by terrestrial (69%) and then marine (56%).
• In Africa, the average decline in monitored wildlife populations stands at 76%
• Habitat loss and degradation, driven primarily by our food system, is the most reported threat to wildlife populations around the world, followed by overexploitation, invasive species and disease.
• Climate change is a particular additional threat for wildlife populations in parts of the world.

Reversing the trends

The report states that reversing current trends will require radically scaling up effective and inclusive conservation action on the ground, as well as addressing the drivers of climate change and nature loss, such as transforming our energy, food and finance systems.

In 2022, South Africa alongside 195 countries committed to a global plan to reverse the loss of nature by 2030 as part of the Global Biodiversity Framework.

To achieve the highly ambitious goals of the GBF will require countries to act on a scale hitherto unseen and in new ways.

Conservation on a greater scale

Fortunately, there are inspiring examples of institutions and initiatives that are relevant for South Africa. A pertinent example of the level of ambition that is required is SANParks Vision 2040 which reimagines the future of conservation on a much greater scale and in a more inclusive manner through the concept of Mega Living Landscapes.

These are large, interconnected areas of land that encompass protected areas, private and communal land and a variety of compatible land uses. We need more momentum and more of this approach if we are to succeed in halting further biodiversity loss.

Such approaches are not only more inclusive of society, but are also much more cost-effective to manage, enabling conservation efforts to be scaled to new levels.

Nevertheless, South Africa still has a significant finance shortfall for our conservation efforts.

Ambitious finance mechanisms

Consequently, we also need to develop ambitious finance mechanisms. Examples include large-scale durable finance, as championed by the Enduring Earth Partnership, as well as attracting private sector finance through blended finance mechanisms such as the Dutch Fund for Climate and Development.

Reversing the perilous global loss of biodiversity will require a whole of society approach. WWF urges government, business and civil society get behind these new, ambitious approaches to conservation.

The international biodiversity and climate summits taking place later this year – COP16 and COP29 – are an opportunity for South Africa to demonstrate its commitment and global leadership in conservation and reversing the loss of biodiversity.

A planet in peril