To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

WWF Report Reveals 'Mass Extinction' Of Wildlife May Happen By 2020

WWF Report Reveals 'Mass Extinction' Of Wildlife May Happen By 2020

This would affect two thirds of the world's wildlife.

Mel Ramsay

Mel Ramsay

In an explosive report that is bound to shake the world's population to its core, experts have warned two thirds of wildlife could be extinct by 2020.

This all depends on whether or not action is taken soon.

WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) has revealed that between 1970 and 2012, there was a 58 percent decline in the numbers of fish, mammals, birds and reptiles worldwide. At its current rate, it will reach 67 percent by 2020.

If the report is true, it means that wildlife across the whole planet is vanishing at a rate of two percent a year. That is absolutely massive.

Martin Taylor, WWF conservation scientist, told CNN: "This is definitely human impact, we're in the sixth mass extinction. There's only been five before this and we're definitely in the sixth.

"It's because we're using so much of the planet and we're destroying so much of (these animals') habitat."

via GIPHY

Speaking of our responsibility as a species, Taylor continued: "Governments (need) to take action to halt the slow death of the planet because it isn't just affecting wild species it's affecting us, too. This is a threat to our future as a species, what we're doing to the planet.

"We only have one planet if we screw it up then we're gone."

The shocking statistics are bound to scare pretty much everyone who reads it - but will we actually do anything to stop it?

Prof Johan Rockström, executive director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, wrote the foreword of the report. He said: "We are no longer a small world on a big planet. We are now a big world on a small planet, where we have reached a saturation point."

It sounds like this is the point of no return.

We're partnering with National Geographic to live stream Leonardo DiCaprio and Fisher Stevens' environmental film, Before The Flood, on TheLADbible's Facebook channel and TheLADbible.com on Sunday 30th October at 9pm GMT. Check out more information. You can also read our range of articles covering the issues that matter in Climate Change:

Myth vs. Truth: What's Really Happening With Climate Change?

A Quarter Of A Billion People Could Be Displaced By Climate Change

The Shocking Impact Of Climate Change: Before And After

How Climate Change Can Affect Anxiety

Climate Change is a crisis for this generation and generations to come. We want to know where you stand on the issue. What can you do? How can we all stop destroying the world? Filling in this poll will help us try to make a difference.

Featured Image Credit:

Topics: climate change