WWF sounds alarm: wildlife populations are plummeting

WWF sounds the alarm: "Wild animals are disappearing at record speed" Keystone-SDA

Global biodiversity continues to be under massive threat. According to the WWF’s Living Planet Report 2024 published on Friday, the wild animal populations surveyed have shrunk by an average of 73% over the last 50 years.

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Habitat destruction, poaching and the climate crisis are among the main causes. There are also losers in Switzerland: wolves, hedgehogs and the golden ground beetle are particularly affected. The WWF called for a global nature conservation offensive. For example, the amount of protected area should increase significantly. The aim is to increase their share to 30% of land, water and marine areas by 2030. Although Switzerland supports this goal, it is still a long way from achieving it, according to the WWF.

Despite the alarming figures, there have also been successes in species conservation. For example, the Iberian lynx has been downgraded from “critically endangered” to “vulnerable” on the Red List, and the population of hawksbill turtles in the Mediterranean is showing a stable recovery. In addition, the otter has returned to Swiss waters and the white stork has reached a new high of 900 breeding pairs.

WWF species conservation expert René Kaspar warns: “Wild animals are 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 protection, which show that conservation measures can have an effect. However, without systematic changes in land use and climate protection, biodiversity remains acutely threatened.

Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

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