WWF report finds that 60 percent of Earth's wildlife has been lost

A stark new World Wildlife Fund report says that due to deforestation, climate change, and an increase in pollution, there was a 60 percent decline among 16,700 wildlife populations between 1970 and 2014.

The 2018 Living Planet Report is filled with sobering statistics, including that 90 percent of all seabirds have plastic in their stomachs, up from 5 percent in 1960, and over the last 30 years, half of the world's shallow-water corals have been wiped out. Ivory poaching in Tanzania between 2009 and 2014 reduced the country's elephant population by more than 60 percent; deforestation in Borneo killed 100,000 orangutans between 1999 and 2015; and it's expected that, as climate change causes the melting of Arctic ice, the number of polar bears is will decline by 30 percent by 2050.

The crisis is "unprecedented in its speed, in its scale, and because it is single-handed," said WWF Director General Marco Lambertini. "It's mindblowing. ... We're talking about 40 years. It's not even a blink of an eye compared to the history of life on Earth." The WWF is calling for an international treaty to protect wildlife, but warns it must be enacted within two years to actually make a difference, due to the fast pace of destruction. "If we want a world with orangutans and puffins, clean air, and enough food for everyone, we need urgent action from our leaders and a new global deal for nature and people that kick starts a global program of recovery," WWF U.K. CEO Tanya Steele said in a statement.

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