Living Planet Report 2026

Living Planet Report 2026 Latest News

Recently, the Living Planet Report 2026 was released which found that there is a 73 per cent decline in the average size of monitored wildlife populations between 1970 and 2022.

About Living Planet Report 2026

• It is published biennially by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). 
• It is a comprehensive study of trends in global biodiversity and the health of the planet. 
• This year it is the 16th edition of the report.
• It utilises the Living Planet Index (LPI) to track average trends in wildlife populations.
  • The LPI is a measure of the state of the world’s biological diversity based on population trends of vertebrate species from terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats.
  • It measures the average rate of change in population size across the species monitored.

Key Highlights of Living Planet Report 2026

• Global Trend: The average size of monitored vertebrate populations declined 73% over 52 years between 1970 and 2022.
• Ecosystem-wise Decline: The strongest declines were seen in freshwater ecosystems with average population sizes plunging 85%, followed by terrestrial ecosystems, at 69% and marine ecosystems at 59%.
• Region wise decline: At a regional level, the steepest declines since 1970 have been recorded in Latin America and the Caribbean (-95%), Africa (-80%), and Asia and the Pacific (-49%).
• Recovery of Wildlife: The report highlights recoveries in populations of green turtles, bluefin tuna, tigers and southern African elephants,
• The report noted a rise in global wild tiger numbers between 2010 and 2025 — from 3,200 to around 5,700 individuals.
• Causes of Wildlife Decline: Habitat loss and degradation, overexploitation of resources, climate change, and impact of invasive species, pollution and disease are some of the dominant drivers of changes across ecosystems and wildlife populations.

Source: DTE

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