Between a quarter and a third of the world's wildlife has been lost since 1970, according to data compiled by the Zoological Society of London.
Populations of land-based species fell by 25%, marine by 28% and freshwater by 29%, it says.
Humans are wiping out about 1% of all other species every year, and one of the "great extinction episodes" in the Earth's history is under way, it says.
Pollution, farming and urban expansion, over-fishing and hunting are blamed.
River dolphin
The Living Planet Index, compiled by the society in partnership with the wildlife group WWF, tracks the fortunes of more than 1,400 species of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, using scientific publications and online databases.
It said numbers had declined by 27% in the 35 years from 1970 to 2005.
Some of the worst hit are marine species which saw their numbers plummet by 28% in just 10 years, between 1995 and 2005.
Populations of ocean birds have fallen by 30% since the mid 1990s, while land-based populations have dropped by 25%
Among the creatures most seriously affected have been African antelopes, swordfish and hammerhead sharks.
Another, the baiji - or Yangtze River Dolphin - may have been lost altogether.
The findings were released ahead of a meeting of the Convention on Biodiversity in the German city of Bonn.
The convention was signed in 1992 with the aim of stabilising the loss of species. In 2002, member states pledged to achieve a "significant reduction" in the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.
But the Zoological Society said governments had since failed to put in place policies necessary to achieve that goal.
It said that while species' decline does appear to have flattened off in recent years, it is "very unlikely" that the 2010 target will be reached.
Impact on humans
The WWF said that over the next 30 years, climate change was also expected to become a significant threat to species.
Colin Butfield, head of campaigns at WWF UK, said: "Biodiversity underpins the health of the planet and has a direct impact on all our lives, so it is alarming that despite an increased awareness of environmental issues we continue to see a downward trend."
The charity also warned that a failure to stop biodiversity loss would have a direct impact on humans.
Director general James Leape said: "Reduced biodiversity means millions of people face a future where food supplies are more vulnerable to pests and disease and where water is in irregular or short supply.
"No-one can escape the impact of biodiversity loss because reduced global diversity translates quite clearly into fewer new medicines, greater vulnerability to natural disasters and greater effects from global warming."
The WWF is calling on governments meeting in Bonn to honour their commitments to put in place effective protected areas for wildlife and to adopt a target to achieve net annual zero deforestation by 2020.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7403989.stm
Populations of land-based species fell by 25%, marine by 28% and freshwater by 29%, it says.
Humans are wiping out about 1% of all other species every year, and one of the "great extinction episodes" in the Earth's history is under way, it says.
Pollution, farming and urban expansion, over-fishing and hunting are blamed.
River dolphin
The Living Planet Index, compiled by the society in partnership with the wildlife group WWF, tracks the fortunes of more than 1,400 species of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, using scientific publications and online databases.
It said numbers had declined by 27% in the 35 years from 1970 to 2005.
Some of the worst hit are marine species which saw their numbers plummet by 28% in just 10 years, between 1995 and 2005.
Populations of ocean birds have fallen by 30% since the mid 1990s, while land-based populations have dropped by 25%
Among the creatures most seriously affected have been African antelopes, swordfish and hammerhead sharks.
Another, the baiji - or Yangtze River Dolphin - may have been lost altogether.
The findings were released ahead of a meeting of the Convention on Biodiversity in the German city of Bonn.
The convention was signed in 1992 with the aim of stabilising the loss of species. In 2002, member states pledged to achieve a "significant reduction" in the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.
But the Zoological Society said governments had since failed to put in place policies necessary to achieve that goal.
It said that while species' decline does appear to have flattened off in recent years, it is "very unlikely" that the 2010 target will be reached.
Impact on humans
The WWF said that over the next 30 years, climate change was also expected to become a significant threat to species.
Colin Butfield, head of campaigns at WWF UK, said: "Biodiversity underpins the health of the planet and has a direct impact on all our lives, so it is alarming that despite an increased awareness of environmental issues we continue to see a downward trend."
The charity also warned that a failure to stop biodiversity loss would have a direct impact on humans.
Director general James Leape said: "Reduced biodiversity means millions of people face a future where food supplies are more vulnerable to pests and disease and where water is in irregular or short supply.
"No-one can escape the impact of biodiversity loss because reduced global diversity translates quite clearly into fewer new medicines, greater vulnerability to natural disasters and greater effects from global warming."
The WWF is calling on governments meeting in Bonn to honour their commitments to put in place effective protected areas for wildlife and to adopt a target to achieve net annual zero deforestation by 2020.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7403989.stm
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Unsu...
Re: Wildlife populations 'plummeting'
Sat, May 17, 2008 - 5:32 AMThis is what gets me about all of this "green revolution" bullshit; It fails to address the basic problems involved with human life on this planet-
We are paying the costs now for promoting a system which values human life above all other forms. No one wants to question whether 6 billion people is a sustainable population, mostly for the same pseudo-religious reasons about the "sanctity of human life".
"Primitive" cultures had homeostatic population levels, modern culture promotes the idea of continued "growth" and not a bit about balance.
People get all pissed off when you tell them that no amount of recycling or biofuel is going to make their life sustainable. They would rather hear about how "everything will stay just as they have known it", It does not matter that this is a delusion because reality is not a part of this equation. People tend to choose the "positive" spin to protect their own psyches, not because it has more basis in fact.
I am unaware of any European in the 1600s saying "let's clearcut this newly discovered(by whites) continent and replace, the trees with humans". And yet this is exactly what happened based on the values that these people brought with them. Killing humans was considered wrong, killing Indians and trees was not. The Natives would not accept the new system, they had been here for 20 or 40 thousand years and had not seriously degraded the environment or overpopulated , something which totally escapes our "advanced" race.
This entire system is predicated on the destruction of other cultures , species and races.. do not act so surprised about the continued destruction... Let's talk Bison, passenger pigeons and chestnuts before you go any further with your assumed outrage.
Being the least bit realistic will get you labeled as NEGATIVE by those who cling to optimism. People from urban areas have no idea what their area was like before it was all killed, bulldozed and paved to make way for the fucking humans that live their now. Since it seems that we are unable to control our own populations once we become "civilized", it will be left to the diseases, wars and natural disasters to beat our populations down to sustainable levels.
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Re: Wildlife populations 'plummeting'
Sat, May 17, 2008 - 3:58 PMI didn't even read: TOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DEPRESSING! ~we MUST wake-the-hell-up!!!!!!
