In new report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), scientists sought to quantify the average of changes in worldwide wildlife populations. According to the report’s findings, there has been a 73% decline in global wildlife populations since 1970.
However, the report’s methods and interpretations have been met with some skepticism. Critics argue that the methods used to calculate the Living Planet Index may cause it to overstate wildlife declines and could be misleading.
“Generating a single estimate for all species in all locations is extremely challenging,” said USC Dornsife Gabilan Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences and Quantitative and Computational Biology and Wrigley Institute faculty affiliate Laura Melissa Guzman. “I don’t think we have reached consensus as a scientific community of what is the best way to do that.”