UPSC Articles
Living Planet Report 2020
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III – Environment; Climate change
In news
- The WWF’s Living Planet Report 2020 was recently released.
Key takeaways from the Report
- There has been a reduction of 68 % in the global wildlife population between 1970 and 2016.
- 75 % of the Earth’s ice-free land surface has already been significantly altered.
- Most of the oceans are polluted.
- More than 85% of the area of wetlands has been lost during this period.
- The most important cause of biodiversity loss: Land-use change – conversion of pristine habitats into agricultural systems and oceans have been overfished.
- The highest biodiversity loss due to land use change: (1) Europe and Central Asia at 57.9 %; (2) North America at 52.5 %; (3) Latin America and Caribbean at 51.2 %; (4) Africa at 45.9 %; (5) Asia at 43 %.
- The largest wildlife population loss: Latin America at an alarming 94 %.
- One of the most threatened biodiversity: Freshwater biodiversity (declining faster than that in oceans or forests).
Do you know?
- Global mapping has recently revealed the extent to which humans have altered millions of kilometres of rivers.
- India, a “mega diverse country” with over 45,000 species of plants in only 2.4 % of the world’s land area, has already lost six plant species to extinction, according to the IUCN Red List.
