16 May 2012: Wildlife in Tropical Regions Has Declined 60
Percent Since 1970 Wildlife populations in the world’s tropical
regions have fallen by more than 60 percent during the last four
decades , according to the latest version of the Living Planet
Index. The Index — which tracks populations of 2,688 vertebrate
species in tropical and temperate regions worldwide — found that
species abundance in the tropics declined by about 44 percent on
land, 62 percent in the oceans, and 70 percent in freshwater
ecosystems from 1970 to 2008. Cumulatively, species abundance
declined by about 1.25 percent annually every year compared with
a 1970 baseline, according to the report, which is published by
the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Zoological Society
of London. Wildlife populations declined by 38 percent in Africa
during that period; about 50 percent in Central and South
America; and 64 percent in Indo-Pacific regions. Overall, the
global index dropped almost 30 percent during the same period.
These steep popu