Global trade and economic growth over the last half century have driven huge improvements in health and living standards but also undermined the stability of the Earth’s natural systems and exacerbated global inequality. The 2020 Living Planet Index shows that global populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have suffered an average 68% decline in less than half a century (from 1970 to 2016). The main cause of this dramatic decline is habitat loss and degradation, including deforestation, driven by how we as humanity produce food. Nature powers industry and enterprise but we are using up ‘natural capital’ and degrading natural systems faster than nature can replenish and restore them, exceeding Earth’s overall bio capacity by 58% according to Ecological Foot printing.
Global trade and economic growth over the last half century have driven huge improvements in health and living standards but also undermined the stability of the Earth’s natural systems and exacerbated global inequality. The 2020 Living Planet Index shows that global populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have suffered an average 68% decline in less than half a century (from 1970 to 2016). The main cause of this dramatic decline is habitat loss and degradation, including deforestation, driven by how we as humanity produce food. Nature powers industry and enterprise but we are using up ‘natural capital’ and degrading natural systems faster than nature can replenish and restore them, exceeding Earth’s overall bio capacity by 58% according to Ecological Foot printing.
Global trade and economic growth over the last half century have driven huge improvements in health and living standards but also undermined the stability of the Earth’s natural systems and exacerbated global inequality. The 2020 Living Planet Index shows that global populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have suffered an average 68% decline in less than half a century (from 1970 to 2016). The main cause of this dramatic decline is habitat loss and degradation, including deforestation, driven by how we as humanity produce food. Nature powers industry and enterprise but we are using up ‘natural capital’ and degrading natural systems faster than nature can replenish and restore them, exceeding Earth’s overall bio capacity by 58% according to Ecological Foot printing.
