The latest edition of the Living Planet Report, a comprehensive overview of the state of the natural world, which measures the average change in population sizes of more than 5,000 vertebrate species, shows a decline of 73% between 1970 and 2020. The mountain gorilla is the only great ape globally that is not in steep decline, the report notes, “highlighting the urgent need for greater conservation of gorillas and other great apes.” ALSO READ: Conservation wins as gorilla population exceeds 1,000 According to the report by conservation charity the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), changes in the natural world may appear small and gradual – but over time, their cumulative impacts can add up to trigger a much larger change called a tipping point. Tipping points can be sudden, as noted, often irreversible, and potentially catastrophic for people and nature. The report found habitat degradation and loss was the biggest threat to wildlife, followed by overexploitation, invasive species, disease, climate change and pollution. According to the report’s lead author and WWF chief scientific adviser, Mike Barrett, through human action, particularly the way that we produce and consume our food, we are increasingly losing natural habitat”. Freshwater populations have suffered the heaviest declines, falling by 85%, followed by terrestrial (69%) and marine populations (56%). At a regional level, the fastest declines have been seen in Latin America and the Caribbean – a concerning 95% decline – followed by Africa (76%) and the Asia and the Pacific (60%). “Habitat degradation and loss, driven primarily by our food system, is the most reported threat in each region, followed by overexploitation, invasive species and disease,” states the report. As noted, to maintain a living planet where people and nature thrive, “we need action” that meets the scale of the challenge. “We need more, and more effective, conservation efforts, while also systematically addressing the major drivers of nature loss. That will require nothing less than a transformation of our food, energy and finance systems.” The report notes that the mountain gorilla population living in the Virunga mountains shared by Rwanda, DR Congo and Uganda, has grown by 3 per cent, every year, between 2010 and 2016. “Conservation interventions such as dedicated management of protected areas, extensive engagement with communities surrounding parks, close monitoring of habituated gorilla groups and veterinary interventions where needed are thought to have driven the increase within the Virunga Massif. While the overall growth shows what is possible in primate conservation, the mountain gorilla is the only great ape globally that is not in steep decline, highlighting the urgent need for greater conservation of gorillas and other great apes.” In October 2022, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, a conservation organization, indicated that there are approximately 1,000 mountain gorillas left, and they remain a highly conservation-dependent subspecies.
