This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The world must seize a shrinking window to reverse the steep decline of wildlife and nature by triggering positive tipping points in food and finance, following the path of the one already underway in energy, according to a major new report from WWF featuring contributions from the University of Exeter's academic experts. Using more wildlife population data than ever before to provide the most detailed picture yet, the Living Planet Report 2026 shows that monitored vertebrate wildlife populations have declined by an average of 73% since 1970, highlighting the devastating impacts that habitat loss, overexploitation and climate change are having on species around the world.
The decline was most pronounced in Latin America at -95% and in freshwater populations at -85%, showing the impact of deforestation and the diversion, drying and pollution of rivers. The figures are drawn from the Living Planet Index, compiled by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the most comprehensive measure of wildlife populations, and reinforce other indicators of nature loss. Nature loss is not only an environmental challenge but an economic and societal one, with half of global GDP dependent on nature in some way.
Earlier this year, the U.K. government published the summary of a national security assessment on global biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, which found that every critical ecosystem is on a pathway to collapse, threatening U.K. national security and prosperity. This was underscored by the extreme heat that affected the U.K. and Europe over the summer, causing wildfires and shriveling crops. This year's U.K. harvest is estimated to be the worst on record.
Tanya Steele, chief executive at WWF-UK, said, "Nature loss is not just a crisis for wildlife. It's already sending us the bill through growing risks to our food security, water supplies, economy and resilience to climate shocks. The extreme weather we've seen this summer is a stark reminder of what's at stake.
"We stand at a fork in the road: either we continue paying the rising price of nature loss, or we invest in nature's recovery and a future where people and wildlife can thrive together. "The window to secure that future is closing fast, but successful conservation efforts from tuna to tigers show that we can succeed. Governments, businesses and communities must pull together to drive the transformations we need to see in food, energy and finance to bring our world back to life." The WWF report also finds that nature can recover faster than we think.
Subtitled "The Science of Hope," it highlights examples of wildlife and ecosystems already recovering, from Atlantic bluefin tuna returning to U.K. waters to recovering tiger populations in parts of Asia. Working alongside local communities to drive conservation has also helped lead to recoveries in green sea turtle and southern African elephant populations. But these successes remain fragile, and the challenge is no longer identifying solutions but delivering them at the speed and scale needed.
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