Global Biodiversity: Wildlife Declining Rapidly
Destroyed habitats, pollution, the climate crisis and other causes are threatening numerous animal and plant species, according to WWF.
Global biodiversity remains massively at risk.
According to the WWF's published Living Planet Report 2024, the wild animal populations studied have shrunk by an average of 73 percent over the past 50 years.
Habitat destruction and hobby hunting as main causes
Habitat destruction, hobby hunting and the climate crisis are among the main causes. There are also losers in Switzerland: wolves, hedgehogs and the ground beetle are said to be particularly affected. WWF called for a global nature conservation offensive.
Among other things, the total area of protected zones should increase significantly. The goal is to raise their share to 30 percent of land, freshwater and ocean surfaces by 2030. Switzerland supports this goal, but is still far from achieving it, according to WWF.
Successes in species conservation give hope
Despite alarming figures, there are also successes in species conservation. The Iberian lynx has been downgraded on the Red List from “critically endangered” to “vulnerable”, and the loggerhead sea turtle population in the Mediterranean is showing a stable recovery.
In addition, the otter is once again living along Swiss waterways, and the white stork has reached a new high with 900 breeding pairs.
WWF species conservation expert René Kaspar warns: “Wildlife is disappearing from our planet forever at record speed, and all the causes are man-made.”
At the same time, he emphasised the successes in species conservation, which show that protective measures can have an effect. But without systematic changes in land use and climate protection, biodiversity will remain acutely threatened.
