MONTREAL, Canada—Biodiversity in Canada has plunged 10 percent over the last half century, with hundreds of species facing extinction, the World Wildlife Fund said in a report Monday (Monday Manila time).
“On average, every species group included — birds, fish, mammals, and reptiles and amphibians — is trending in the wrong direction,” the WWF said in a statement as it released the 2025 Living Planet report for Canada.
While certain populations, like sea otters, are improving, the conservation group said 52 percent of all species studied for this year’s Canada report are declining, including the rare snow owl.
“This is the most severe decline we’ve observed since reporting started,” WWF Vice President for Canada, James Snider, wrote. AFP
WWF said that between 1970 and 2022, biodiversity in Canada had decreased by 10 percent.
Species globally assessed as at-risk of extinction in Canada, such as the North Atlantic right whale and leatherback sea turtle, declined by 43 percent, according to the report.
Regions such as the boreal forest with lower levels of human presence saw smaller decreases, while habitats in Canada’s grasslands declined 62 percent.
Last year, WWF reported a global wildlife population decline of 73 percent since 1970.
Conservation expert Jessica Currie, who worked on the report, told AFP that habitat reduction — largely because of agricultural expansion — “is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss.”
The report notes Canada’s economic reliance on its vast natural resources, but says conservation needs to be front-of-mind in management of industrial or infrastructure projects. AFP
