00:02Biodiversity continues to be degraded at an alarming pace
00:05but experts insist there are still grounds for hope
00:08according to new research from the WWF and the Zoological Society of London.
00:14The rates of decline that we're looking at have essentially been remarkably steady since 1970
00:19so we're seeing this steady year-on-year decline
00:21so a trend which has led to a 73% average loss in size of vertebrate wildlife populations since 1970
00:28so there's no difference to that trend since 1970, unfortunately.
00:33Despite the stark findings, the report highlights the effectiveness of conservation efforts.
00:39Tigers are one of the clearest examples.
00:42In 2010, only around 3,200 wild tigers remained
00:46but last year, the population had grown to roughly 5,700.
00:52In South Africa, elephants are stable or growing in many of the places
00:56where local communities lead the management of the land.
01:00Last year, the Green Sea Turtle became the first marine turtle ever to be downlisted
01:05from endangered to least concerned.
01:08However, the report argues that these recoveries sit inside a much larger set of forces
01:13driving biodiversity loss in the opposite direction.
01:17The first is the way the world produces and uses energy.
01:21The second is the way the world produces and consumes food.
01:24Agriculture is the single largest cause of habitat loss and degradation
01:29and the leading driver of biodiversity decline.
