2010 WWF Living Planet Reports Cites Extraordinary Biodiversity Losses in Tropics

GreenTracker| The WWF’s 2010 Living Planet Report, considered to be the leading survey of our planet’s health, cites an alarming rate of biodiversity loss in tropical countries.

Produced in collaboration with the Zoological Society of London and the Global Footprint Network, the Living Planet Report uses the global Living Planet Index as a measure of the health of almost 8,000 populations of more than 2,500 species.

The findings continue to be highly alarming. The global index shows a decrease by 30 per cent since 1970, with the tropics hardest hit showing a 60 per cent decline in less than 40 years.

While conservation and environmental efforts are improving some recovery of biodiversity in temperate areas, tracked populations of freshwater tropical species have fallen by nearly 70 per cent — greater than any species’ decline measured on land or in our oceans.