Africa’s monitored wildlife populations have declined by an average of 80% since 1970, according to the new global assessment published on 8 October in the Living Planet Report 2026. The report tracked populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians from 1970 to 2022. Africa’s average compares with a global average decline of 73%, while Latin America and the Caribbean recorded the largest regional decline, at 95%. The Living Planet Index, managed by the Zoological Society of London in partnership with WWF, is based on 35,803 population trends from 5,790 vertebrate species worldwide.
The authors clarify that the index measures the change in the average size of monitored populations and does not mean that Africa has lost 80% of its wild animals or wildlife species.
Habitat destruction and degradation are the pressures most frequently reported for populations monitored worldwide. Other threats include overexploitation, climate change, pollution, disease and invasive species. In the Congo Basin, for example, pressures include agricultural expansion, logging and mining, as well as roads and other infrastructure that fragment forests and make previously remote areas more accessible. Hunting and poaching add to the pressure.
WWF says African forest elephant populations have declined by more than 60% in recent decades, mainly because of habitat loss and illegal killing for ivory.
Reversing this trend requires coordinated action among governments, civil society and other sectors, with Indigenous peoples and local communities at the centre, said Nadège Nzoyem, WWF’s regional director for the Congo Basin.
The global figures show that conservation can make a difference. Half the populations included in the index are either stable or growing, but sharp declines in the remaining populations are large enough to pull the overall index steeply downwards. In southern Africa, savanna elephants remain threatened and are declining across much of their range, but some populations are growing where communities directly help manage wildlife and benefit from doing so. These efforts have been accompanied by measures against trafficking, judicial reforms and efforts to reduce corruption.
The findings come as governments prepare to assess progress on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, whose 23 targets include commitments to halt human-caused extinctions and support the recovery of threatened species by 2030. The framework also calls for protecting at least 30% of the world’s land, inland waters and seas by 2030.
The report argues that protecting individual species and habitats will not be enough. Food and energy production, along with financial systems, are underlying forces that must also change to reverse biodiversity decline.
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