A recent announcement from “Nature Briefing” regarding the global status of wildlife populations may help us recognize the tremendous asset we have in the wildlife and natural resources of Coastal Oregon, and especially the Southern Coast. Outdoor Recreation and Tourism are important aspects of how we interact and manage our coastal communities and our natural resources.

Within two years, we must commit to saving the web of life

Mammal, bird, fish and reptile populations have fallen on average by 60% since 1970, finds a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report involving 59 scientists from around the world. “If there was a 60% decline in the human population, that would be equivalent to emptying North America, South America, Africa, Europe, China and Oceania. That is the scale of what we have done,” says Mike Barrett, executive director of science and conservation at the WWF.

Runaway human consumption is to blame: the biggest cause of wildlife loss is the annihilation of natural habitats, much of it to create farmland to feed humans and livestock, followed by killing for food. The WWF is calling on world leaders to strike a global deal at the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity in 2020, similar to the Paris agreement on climate change, to limit and reverse the destruction. “This is far more than just being about losing the wonders of nature, desperately sad though that is,” says Barrett. “This is actually now jeopardising the future of people. Nature is not a ‘nice to have’ — it is our life-support system.”

CNN | 10 min read
Read more: Nature digs deep into the last WWF Living Planet Report in 2016
Reference: WWF Living Planet Report & Nature Sustainability paper