New data puts Canadian wildlife population declines in focus

Environmental advocacy group WWF has updated its Living Planet Index for Canada and found that downward trends in monitored wildlife populations are becoming more pronounced – a sign that federal and provincial policies are inadequate to the task of protecting species at risk across the country or improving their chances of recovery.

In a report released on Monday, the organization found that 53 per cent of the Canadian species it measures are decreasing in abundance, with an average decrease of 10 per cent since 1970 (a point in time from which wildlife population data were sufficient to allow for reliable estimates). Among those species already listed as threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, 43 per cent showed population declines, including the boreal caribou.