Animals in the Anthropocene

The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) recently released its ‘Living Planet Report 2022’ — this finds a 69% decline in wildlife populations between 1970 and 2018. Vertebrate wildlife groups have fallen by two-thirds globally while freshwater species have shrunk by 83%.

One million plants and animals face extinction — about 2.5% of birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles and fish have gone forever. The crisis is caused by the Anthropocene, our era of sprawling human impacts, extending from heating Earth’s atmosphere to making oceans acidic and destroying habitat.



Many animals inhabit trees, nooks and crannies in forests across Earth — yet, every year, we destroy ten million hectares of forestlands. Our greenhouse gas emissions warm the world, causing extreme weather events, droughts, heatwaves, wildfires and the collapse of productive plants. This forces wildlife to travel, seeking water and food. As they wander, they face human-animal conflicts over resources. We have a few consolations of metal and plastic to amuse ourselves with through this destruction — the animals of the Anthropocene have none.



However, losing them has huge implications for humanity. According to the World Economic Forum, an analysis of 163 industry sectors shows over half the world’s GDP is dependent on nature and ecosystem services performed by animals.



About $44 trillion of economic value generation comes from such services — the World Bank finds their collapse could cause a $2.7 trillion annual decline in global GDP by 2030, South Asia among the worst-hit. Alongside, as we lose wild beings, we lose wonder itself — imagine a world lacking birds’ strange, musical cries, insects that shimmer in the sun, a lion’s mane billowing in a breeze, dolphins chuckling naughtily in the blue seas. Can there be an Earth more bereft without the magic of our fellow species? Their existence enables — and enriches — ours.

There are solutions to halt this growing loss. As Times Evoke’s global experts emphasise, we can rejuvenate wild habitat, protect humans sharing lands with animals and respect wildlife’s need for peace. Thinking about animals helps us understand the alchemy of existence. You live on a planet uniquely blessed with many lives. Join Times Evoke in celebrating and preserving this.

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