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According to a new analysis, the world has lost a "catastrophic" 73 percent of wildlife populations in the past 50 years. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London track over five thousand species of amphibians, birds, fish, mammals, and reptiles around the world through the Living Planet Index.
The database shows the alarming extent to which human activity is negatively impacting wildlife. “It really does indicate to us that the fabric of nature is unraveling,” Rebecca Shaw, WWF’s chief scientist said of the report’s findings. The report identifies the primary drivers of biodiversity declines as habitat loss (typically from farming, logging, building, producing energy and mining), hunting and fishing animals directly for food or other reasons, climate change, pollution, invasive species, and disease. “Wildlife population declines can lead to the loss of ecosystem function and ecosystem services to people such as carbon storage, water storage, clean air, clean water, pollination services and protection against storm surge and flooding, just to name a few,” said Shaw.
The report calls for renewed focus on and funding for existing international conservation goals, including conserving and protecting 30 percent of lands, oceans, coastal areas, and inland waters by 2030. Early in his term, President Joe Biden established a national goal of protecting 30 percent of America's lands and waters. To learn more about the efforts underway to reach the 30x30 goal, please check out our Road to 30: Postcards campaign for examples of local and Indigenous-led conservation efforts from across the country.
By the numbers: Oil and gas companies aren't that into Utah
A new op-ed published in the Deseret News by Center for Western Priorities' Communications Manager Kate Groetzinger digs into the data of what's actually happening with oil and gas drilling on America's public lands. Spoiler alert: claims made by the oil and gas industry that the Biden administration is trying to end drilling on public lands don't add up. The reality shows that the industry is sitting on a stockpile of leases for over 23 million acres of public land, nearly half of which oil and gas companies have not yet tapped and are lying idle. In Utah, the industry is sitting on 1.3 million unused acres—more than half the total land under lease in the state.
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