Report: Africa wildlife population declined by 76 per cent in 50 years

A new report has unearthed shocking details of how wildlife population in Africa has reduced significantly over the past 50 years.

The 2024 World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report places the declining population at 76 per cent in monitored wildlife populations across Africa, representing mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish.

The 2024 Living Planet Index report, titled A System in Peril, lists habitat loss and degradation, over exploitation, climate change, pollution, invasive species and disease as the most reported threats to wildlife populations in Africa.

The report shows a more severe decline on the continent compared to the global wildlife decline of 73 per cent between 1970 and 2020, an annual average decline of 2.6 per cent.

“When a population falls below a certain level, that species may not be able to perform its usual role within the ecosystem. Whether that’s seed dispersal, pollination, grazing, nutrient cycling or the many other processes that keep ecosystems functioning,” reads the report.

Global freshwater species suffered the most significant declines at 85 per cent, followed by terrestrial ecosystems at 69 per cent and marine ecosystems at 56 per cent.

The decline reflect increasing pressure on rivers, lakes, oceans, and wetlands from overgrazing, overfishing, deforestation, pollution, and water abstraction. The report also states that stable wildlife populations over time provide resilience against disturbances such as disease and extreme weather events.

However, declining populations reduce ecosystem resilience, threatening food security, clean water, carbon storage and other benefits ecosystems provide to people.

The benefits include food, clean water and carbon storage for a stable climate to the broader contributions that nature makes to the cultural, social and spiritual well-being.

According to the report, Africa is facing dangerous, irreversible tipping points driven by nature loss and climate change. A tipping point occurs when cumulative impacts reach a threshold, leading to abrupt and potentially irreversible changes.

The report states the urgent need for transformative action to safeguard Africa’s natural ecosystems and the livelihoods that depend on them.

“Nature is disappearing at an alarming rate. While some changes may be small and gradual, their cumulative impacts can trigger larger, faster change,” reads the report.

The WWF report indicates that national and global commitments, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Paris Agreement, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are falling short of their targets.

More than half of the SDG targets for 2030 will likely be missed, with 30 per cent showing no progress or worsening since 2015.

The report states that current national climate commitments could result in a nearly 3°C rise in global temperatures by the end of the century potentially triggering catastrophic tipping points.

Further, national biodiversity strategies and action plans are inadequate, often lacking financial and institutional support.

The report argues that addressing climate, biodiversity and development goals in isolation risks creating conflicts between objectives, such as land use for food production versus biodiversity conservation or renewable energy development.

However, with a coordinated, inclusive approach, many of the conflicts can be avoided or minimised. The report calls on countries to extend, connect, and properly fund their protected area systems while respecting the rights and needs of local populations.

It notes that conservation efforts that don’t take account of the rights, needs and values of people are not likely to succeed in the long run.

Despite the alarming decline in species populations, the report points to positive conservation outcomes in Kenya, particularly for the African lion, elephant, and black rhino.

Kenya’s black rhino population has rebounded from 400 in the 1980s to 1,004 in 2023, a major milestone for the critically endangered species.

However, the report warns that continued ecosystem degradation could push the continent beyond critical tipping points.

It states that as ecosystems cross the thresholds, their ability to support both wildlife and sustainable development becomes compromised.

This leads to severe consequences for food security, water availability and climate resilience.

The report calls for urgent global action to transform conservation, energy, food, and financial systems by 2030 in a fair and inclusive way.

“To maintain a living planet where people and nature thrive, we need action that meets the scale of the challenge. We need more effective conservation efforts and systematic approaches to address the drivers of nature loss,” the report notes.

It advocates for transforming the global food system, terming it as illogical, as it destroys biodiversity, depletes water resources, and drives climate change while failing to deliver adequate nutrition people need.

“Despite record production, some 735 million people go to bed hungry each night. Obesity rates are rising even as nearly a third of the world’s population don’t regularly get enough nutritious food,” reads the report.

Food production uses 40 per cent of all habitable land, is the leading cause of habitat loss, and accounts for 70 per cent of water use and over a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions.

The report also calls for a rapid transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy to cut emissions by half by 2030, ensuring that energy production does not further harm people or nature.

According to the report, the way energy is produced and consumed is the principal driver of climate change, with increasingly severe impacts on people and ecosystems.

It calls for energy transition which must be fast, green and fair, putting people and nature at its heart.

Moreover, it faults the finance system, arguing that it does not value nature, driving unsustainable natural resource exploitation, environmental degradation and climate change.