LONDON: The world's wildlife populations have reduced by around a quarter since the 1970s, according to a major new report – and this could be hitting the global economy for as much as six per cent of its annual output.

Marine species have been particularly hard hit as the human population booms, while numbers of birds and, fish and animals have also gone down, said the conservation group WWF in a report released on Friday.

Conservation convention

The study was released ahead of the U.N.'s convention on biological diversity in the former West German capital Bonn, which opened today. The conference, which runs all week, will discuss aims to achieve a "significant reduction" in the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.

The WWF, the world's largest independent conservation body, said it was "very unlikely" that the U.N. would meet its targets, despite the decline appearing to flatten off in recent years.

The WWF's Living Planet Index, which tracks the fortunes of nearly 4,000 populations of 1,477 vertebrate species from 1970 to 2005, showed an overall decline of 27 per cent. Over-fishing and hunting, along with farming, pollution and urban expansion, were blamed.

WWF director general James Leape warned: "Reduced biodiversity means millions of people face a future where food supplies are more vulnerable to pests and disease and where water is in irregular or short supply.

"No one can escape the impact of biodiversity loss because reduced global diversity translates quite clearly into fewer new medicines, greater vulnerability to natural disasters and greater effects from global warming," he said.

Living planet index

The marine LPI showed a 28 per cent decline with a dramatic drop between 1995 and 2005. The overall freshwater LPI fell by 29 per cent between 1970 and 2003. Swordfish numbers plummeted by 28 percent in the decade from 1995, while ocean birds suffered a 30 per cent decline since the mid 1990s.

"Biodiversity underpins the health of the planet and has a direct impact on all our lives so it is alarming that despite an increased awareness of environmental issues we continue to see a downward trend," said Colin Butfield, head of campaigns with the U.K. branch of WWF.

The conservation charity also warned that a failure to halt biodiversity loss would have negative impacts for humans.

In the next 30 years, climate change is expected to become a significant threat to species, said the WWF.
The declines come at a time when humans are consuming ever more natural resources, and are now using 25 per cent more than the planet can replace, it said.

Economics of life

The WWF urged governments to take urgent action to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, calling for cross-ministry protection plans. They should also set up financial incentives to support the establishment and maintenance of protection zones, it said.

"The fact that human activities have caused more rapid changes in biodiversity in the last 50 years than at any other time in human history should concern us all," said Britain's Biodiversity Minister Joan Ruddock. "International action is needed to tackle the worldwide decline in wildlife, with all countries working together."

In related news, German newspaper Der Spiegel has today detailed a report that says this destruction of flora and fauna is costing the world two trillion euros (A$3.26 trillion) a year, or six per cent of its overall gross national product.

The European Union and German environment ministry-led report, entitled "The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity," will be presented today at the ninth conference of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn.