Without urgent action we may lose our habitats forever: WWF

Report highlights rapidly closing window for action toward environment preservation

ISLAMABAD: World Wildlife Fund-Pakistan Senior Director Programmes Rab Nawaz said Pakistan is faced with many challenges and opportunities when it comes to the environment and wildlife. The Living Planet Report shows that if we do not change the way we value our natural surroundings, we are going to lose these species and ecosystems forever.

He added that Pakistan is no different; we are losing our unique habitats and our wildlife at an alarming rate. However, we still have some of the world’s most beautiful landscapes. We, as a nation have to come up with solutions that ensure these landscapes stay for future generations whilst supporting the communities and the wildlife that share them.

Humanity and the way we feed, fuel and finance our societies and economies is pushing nature and the services that power and sustain us to the brink, according to WWF’s Living Planet Report 2018. Researchers, present a sobering picture of the impact of human activity on the world’s wildlife, forests, oceans, rivers and climate, underlining the rapidly closing window for action and the urgent need for the global community to collectively rethink and redefine how we value, protect and restore nature.

The Living Planet Report 2018 presents a comprehensive overview of the state of our natural world, twenty years after the flagship report was first published.

Through indicators such as the Living Planet Index (LPI), provided by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the Species Habitat Index (SHI), the IUCN Red List Index (RLI) and the Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII), as well as Planetary Boundaries and the Ecological Footprint, the report paints a singular disturbing picture: human activity is pushing the planet’s natural systems that support life on earth to the edge.

The report highlights that over recent decades, human activity has also severely impacted the habitats and natural resources which wildlife and humanity depend on such as oceans, forests, coral reefs, wetlands and mangroves. While shedding light on the extent and impact of human activity on nature, the Living Planet Report 2018 also focuses on the importance and value of nature to people’s health and well-being and that of our societies and economies.



Globally, nature provides services worth around US$125 trillion a year, while also helping ensure a supply of fresh air, clean water, food, energy, medicines and other products and materials.

The report specifically looks at the importance of pollinators which are responsible for US$ 235-577 billion in crop production per year, and how a changing climate, intensive agricultural practices, invasive species and emerging diseases have impacted their abundance, diversity and health.

Evidence shows that the two agendas - for the environment and human development - must converge if we are to build a sustainable future for all.

The Living Planet Report 2018 brings to attention the opportunity the global community has to protect and restore nature leading up to 2020, a critical year when leaders are expected to review the progress made on the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).WWF is calling on people, businesses and governments to mobilise and deliver on a comprehensive framework agreement for nature and people under the CBD, one that spurs public and private action to protect and restore global biodiversity and nature and bend the curve on the devastating trends highlighted in the Living Planet Report 2018. Living Planet Report 2018 is the twelfth edition of WWF's biennial flagship publication.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2018.