WILDLIFE COLLAPSE: Africa's Animal Populations Plunge 80% Since 1970...

Between 1970 and 2022, monitored wildlife populations across Africa shrank by 80 percent on average—a steeper drop than the global 73 percent decline tracked by the Living Planet Report released in October. The assessment, which analyzed 35,803 population trends across 5,790 vertebrate species, found habitat destruction and degradation as the primary drivers, with poaching, climate change, and invasive species compounding losses. The Congo Basin faces particular pressure from logging, mining, and agricultural expansion that fragment forests and enable easier access to remote areas. Some conservation success exists: where communities directly manage wildlife and share the economic benefits, populations like certain Southern African elephant groups are stabilizing or recovering—suggesting that reversing decline requires local participation alongside anti-trafficking efforts and systemic changes to food, energy, and financial systems.