野生動物の個体群、４６年で平均６８％減　ＷＷＦ

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】世界の哺乳類、鳥類、魚類の個体群は、資源の過剰な利用によって46年間で平均68％減少したことが、10日に公表された「生きている地球レポート」で分かった。専門家らは、人類の存続には自然保護が重要だと警鐘を鳴らしている。（写真は資料写真）
　人間の活動は、地球の陸域の７５％と海洋の４０％に深刻な悪化をもたらした。急速な自然破壊は人間の健康と生活に甚大な影響を及ぼす可能性が高い。
　４０００種以上の脊椎動物を追跡調査している「生きている地球指数」は、１９７０年から２０１６年の間に野生動物種の個体群が平均で６８％減少した主な要因は、森林伐採の増加と農業用地の拡大だと警告している。
　生きている地球レポートは、世界自然保護基金（ＷＷＦ）の国際事務局であるＷＷＦインターナショナルとロンドン動物学協会が共同でまとめたもので、隔年発表されており、今回で１３回目となる。
　この中で専門家らは、人間の活動領域が拡大したことで、生息地を失った野生動物と人間の接触機会が大幅に増えており、将来の感染症のパンデミック（世界的な大流行）の危険性が高まったとも警告している。
　ＷＷＦインターナショナルのマルコ・ランベルティーニ事務局長はＡＦＰの取材に、１９７０年以降、生物多様性は驚くほど失われてきたと語った。
　ランベルティーニ氏は「われわれは３０年間、（生物多様性の）減少が加速するのを監視してきた」「２０１６年には６０％だったが、現在は７０％減少している」と述べた。
　さらに、「多くの種が数百万年も地球上に生息していたことに比べれば、すべては一瞬のうちに起きている」と付け加えた。
　過去５年でこれまでになく経済が成長し、天然資源の消費が世界的に激増した。
　侵入生物や環境汚染などの要因も影響しているが、森林や草原の産業用地や農地への転用など土地利用の変化が、個体群減少の最大の要因だという。
　現在、地球の陸域の３分の１、淡水の４分の１が食料の生産に使われており、人間を支えるために、持続不可能な水準の資源が求められるようになっている。
　この傾向は海洋でも深刻で、水産資源の７５％は過剰に利用されているという。
　また、野生動物の個体群は急速に減少しているが、一部地域で特に顕著だ。中南米の熱帯地域では１９７０年以降、個体群が９４％減少している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/09/11-12:00）

Global animal, bird and fish populations have plummeted more than two-thirds in less than 50 years due to rampant over-consumption, experts said Thursday in a stark warning to save nature in order to save ourselves.
Human activity has severely degraded three quarters of all land and 40 percent of Earth's oceans, and our quickening destruction of nature is likely to have untold consequences on our health and livelihoods.
The Living Planet Index, which tracks more than 4,000 species of vertebrates, warned that increasing deforestation and agricultural expansion were the key drivers behind a 68 percent average decline in populations between 1970 and 2016.
It warned that continued natural habitat loss increased the risk of future pandemics as humans expand their presence into ever closer contact with wild animals.
2020's Living Planet Report, a collaboration between WWF International and the Zoological Society of London, is the 13th edition of the biennial publication tracking wildlife populations around the world.
WWF International director general Marco Lambertini told AFP of the staggering loss of Earth's biodiversity since 1970.
It's an accelerating decrease that we've been monitoring for 30 years and it continues to go in the wrong direction, he said.
In 2016 we documented a 60 percent decline, now we have a 70 percent decline.
All this is in a blink of an eye compared to the millions of years that many species have been living on the planet, Lambertini added.
- 'Staggering' fall -
The last half-decade has seen unprecedented economic growth underpinned by an explosion in global consumption of natural resources.
Whereas until 1970, humanity's ecological footprint was smaller than the Earth's capacity to regenerate resources, the WWF now calculates we are over using the planet's capacity by more than half.
While aided by factors such as invasive species and pollution, the biggest single driver of species lost is land-use changes: normally, industry converting forests or grasslands into farms.
This takes an immense toll on wild species, who lose their homes.
But it also requires unsustainable levels of resources to uphold: one third of all land mass and three quarters of all freshwater are now dedicated to producing food.
The picture is equally dire in the ocean, where 75 percent of fish stocks are over exploited.
And while wildlife is declining rapidly, species are disappearing faster in some places than others.
The index showed that the tropical regions of Central and South America had seen a 94 percent fall in species since 1970.
It is staggering. It is ultimately an indicator of our impact on the natural world, said Lambertini.
- 'From sad to worried' -
The Living Planet update comes alongside a study co-authored by more than 40 NGOs and academic institutions, which lays out ways of arresting and reversing the losses human consumption has inflicted.
The research, published in the journal Nature, suggests that reducing food waste and favouring healthier and more environmentally friendly diets could help to bend the curve of degradation.
Coupled with radical conservation efforts, these measures could avert more than two-thirds of future biodiversity loss, the authors suggested.
We need to act now. Rates of biodiversity recovery are typically much slower than those of recent biodiversity loss, said lead study author David Leclere, research scholar at the International Institute of Applied System Analysis.
This implies that any delay in action will allow further biodiversity losses that might take decades to restore.
Leclere also warned of irreversible losses to biodiversity, such as when a species goes extinct.
Lambertini said that, like public discourse on climate change, societies are increasingly concerned about the links between the health of the planet and human well-being.
From being sad about losing nature, people are beginning to actually get worried, he said.
We still have a moral duty to co-exist with life on the planet, but there's now this new element of impact on our society, our economy and, of course, our health.