Living Planet Report 2026

About Living Planet Report 2026

• Living Planet Report 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.
• Released by: It is released by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
• Purpose: It measures the average rate of change in population size across the species monitored.
• Developed by: It was first developed in 1998 by WWF to monitor the changing state of nature.
  • Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has been managing the LPI in a collaborative partnership with WWF since 2006.
• It was adopted by the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) as an indicator of progress towards its 2011-2020 targets and it is now an indicator in the post-2020 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Key Findings of the Living Planet Report 2026

• Global Wildlife Decline: The average size of monitored vertebrate populations declined 73% over 52 years between 1970 and 2022.
  • This is based on scientific monitoring data from 35,803 populations and 5,790 species of amphibians, birds, fishes, mammals and reptiles.
• Decline in ecosystems: 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%.
• Regional Variation: 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%).
• Evidence of Wildlife Recovery: The report highlights recoveries in populations of green turtles, bluefin tuna, tigers and southern African elephants.
  • It demonstrates that targeted conservation interventions can deliver proven results.
  • The report noted 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, impact of invasive species, pollution and disease are some of the dominant drivers of changes across ecosystems and wildlife populations.
• Suggestions:
  • Countries should implement the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and Paris Agreement to drive systemic change.
  • Upcoming UN biodiversity and climate conferences provide an opportunity to move from ambition to implementation.