The grey partridge is listed as one of the most under-threat species in a startling new study.
The Living Planet Report reveals they have declined by 85 per cent between 1970 and 2004 in the UK, likely due to the effects of agricultural intensification.
The number of Grauer’s Gorilla in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo has dropped by an estimated 87% decline between 1994 and 2015, mostly due to illegal hunting.
African elephant populations declined by 98% between 1985 and 2010 due to the increasing of poaching in the early 1980s.
Populations of the forest elephant in Ghana have more than doubled in protected areas, but in the Goaso forest block in western Ghana there has been a decrease of approximately 60% due to habitat loss and poaching.
Leatherback turtles have seen a decline in Tortuguero beach in Costa Rica, where there has been an 84% drop in the estimated number of nests laid between 1995 and 2011.
And there was a 78% decline in the number of nests at Jamursba-Medi beaches in Indonesia between 1993 and 2012.
Almost one in three freshwater species are threatened with extinction.
Some 3,741 monitored populations – representing 944 species of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fishes – in the Freshwater Living Planet Index have declined by an average of 84% -equivalent to 4% per year since 1970. Freshwater amphibians, reptiles and fishes have been badly impacted.
The Living Planet Report 2020 is the thirteenth edition of WWF's biennial flagship publication and includes contributions from more than 125 experts from around the world.
The report draws on the latest findings measured by ZSL’s Living Planet Index, tracking 20,811 populations of 4,392 species.
This year’s index includes 400 new species and 4,870 new populations.
The 2020 global Living Planet Index shows an average 68 per cent decline in monitored populations.
The percentage change in the index reflects the average proportional change in animal population sizes tracked over 46 years - not the number of individual animals lost.
The Living Planet Report 2020 launches less than a week before the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, when leaders are expected to review the progress made on the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
The UNGA 2020 will bring together world leaders, businesses and civil society to develop the post-2020 framework for action for global biodiversity and thus marks a milestone moment to set the groundwork for an urgently needed New Deal for Nature and People.
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