Rapid Global Biodiversity Loss
Recent Developments
012024: WWF’s Living Planet Report reported a 73% average decline in monitored wildlife populations since 1970, with freshwater populations down 83%.
022024: The European Central Bank highlighted that biodiversity loss can generate large non-linear economic risks and emphasized the value of ecosystem services in the EU economy.
032024: WHO reiterated that invasive alien species are a major extinction driver and a major source of global economic damage.
042024: Scientific and policy analyses continued to stress that biodiversity loss is interacting with climate change, pollution, and land-use change, making isolated interventions less effective than coordinated action.
Interventions
- Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework implementation through national biodiversity strategies and action plans.
- Nature-related risk and ecosystem-service accounting initiatives by central banks and financial institutions.
- Conservation and restoration programs targeting forests, wetlands, freshwater systems, and invasive species control.
What Works
- Protecting and restoring habitat reduces pressure on threatened species and preserves ecosystem services such as water filtration, flood protection, and pollination.
- Coordinated interventions that address multiple drivers at once are more effective than isolated actions because populations exposed to multiple pressures decline faster.
- Reducing invasive alien species can materially lower extinction risk and avoid large economic losses.
How to Help
- Donate to credible conservation organizations working on habitat protection, restoration, and species recovery.
- Volunteer with local conservation groups focused on native habitat restoration, wetland protection, and invasive-species removal.
- Advocate for stronger biodiversity policies, better land-use rules, and corporate deforestation-free supply chains.
Make an Impact
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Verified Organizations
Organizations Helping(22)
In the Colombian Amazon, Conservation International implements climate adaptation programs for Indigenous communities, including early warning systems for droughts and floods, restoration of degraded areas to enhance water regulation, and capacity building for sustainable water management to address the transition from drought to flooding and hypertropical risks.
The Nature Conservancy works on biodiversity loss through habitat protection and restoration, regenerative and biodiversity-friendly land management, and supply-chain interventions that reduce pressure on forests and other ecosystems. It also uses science-based planning to identify priority places for conservation and to scale solutions with governments, companies, and local communities.
Forest Trends addresses consumption-driven deforestation and biodiversity loss by (1) tracking and disclosing commodity supply chains and finance flows that drive tropical forest loss; (2) designing and promoting market mechanisms and financial tools (e.g., payments for ecosystem services, jurisdictional REDD+ frameworks, and deforestation-risk disclosure) that shift investment away from forest conversion; and (3) producing applied research and policy guidance used by governments, companies, and investors to reduce imported deforestation and protect species habitat. Specific programs include the Ecosystem Marketplace (market intelligence on forest finance and voluntary carbon), the Supply Change / supply-chain finance analysis work that evaluates corporate commitments and progress on zero-deforestation sourcing, and support for jurisdictional approaches linking commodity production to forest protection. These activities target the drivers identified in the query—agricultural commodity expansion, international trade and finance, and weak incentives for forest protection—by improving transparency, creating financial incentives to conserve forests, and informing corporate and policy action.
Global Canopy targets outsourced deforestation and the biodiversity impacts of international trade by (1) mapping and ranking the most influential companies, banks and governments (Forest 500) whose policies and procurement drive commodity-driven forest loss; (2) producing company- and commodity-level analysis to expose links between imports and forest conversion; (3) supporting supply‑chain transparency and traceability initiatives and engagement tools that encourage corporate commitments to zero‑deforestation/zero‑conversion; and (4) informing policy and financial sector action by supplying datasets used by investors and regulators to reduce finance for forest‑risk land conversion. Their work directly ties consumption and trade to biodiversity loss hotspots so interventions can be targeted to stop habitat loss for threatened species.
