SPECIES

OVERVIEW

Biodiversity, the variety of life on Earth, is essential for our health, well-being, and economic success. But we are losing it at an alarming rate, according to WWF's Living Planet Report 2022.

A million plant and animal species are threatened with extinction, we have lost half of the world’s corals, and lose forest areas the size of 27 football fields every minute. Why are we losing nature at such a catastrophic rate?

Five key drivers of biodiversity loss have been identified by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES): 'They are changes in the use of sea and land, direct exploitation of organisms, climate change, pollution, and invasive non-native species.'

The Living Planet Report says there are many ways in which we can reverse nature loss. Find out how faith communities are contributing to this effort.

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Key themes for species

'Global wildlife populations have plummeted by 69% on average since 1970. The staggering rate of decline is a severe warning that the rich biodiversity that sustains all life on our planet is in crisis, putting every species at risk – including us.'

WWF's Living Planet Report 2022

ZERO EXTINCTION OF SPECIES

WWF Global Goal Two

We are striving to halt species extinction caused by human activity, with wildlife populations stable or increasing. To achieve this, we need to end illegal over-exploitation and trade, sustainably use legally taken wildlife and wildlife products, reduce conflicts between people and wildlife, minimise incidental capture, and reduce the threat to wildlife caused by invasive species.

REMEMBERING JANE GOODALL

The pioneer in primate ethology spoke of her spiritual experiences in nature

Dame Jane Goodall, the world-leading expert on chimpanzees who revolutionised our understanding of our closest primate cousins, died aged 91 on 1 October 2025 while on a book tour.

Speaking a year ago, she said her death would be her 'next great adventure' because she would find out whether there was 'something or nothing' more to life, adding: 'I happen to believe that there is something because of the experiences I’ve had.'

In her book, Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey, Jane Goodall described one of her own spiritual experiences while in nature.

'Lost in awe at the beauty around me, I must have slipped into a state of heightened awareness. It is hard – impossible really – to put into words the moment of truth that suddenly came upon me then. Even the mystics are unable to describe their brief flashes of spiritual ecstasy. It seemed to me, as I struggled afterward to recall the experience, the self was utterly absent: I and the chimpanzees, the earth and trees and air, seemed to merge, to become one with the spirit power of life itself.

'That afternoon, it had been as though an unseen hand had drawn back a curtain and, for the briefest moment, I had seen through such a window. In a flash of “outsight” I had known timelessness and quiet ecstasy, sensed a truth of which mainstream science is merely a small fraction.

'And I knew that the revelation would be with me for the rest of my life, imperfectly remembered yet always within. A source of strength on which I could draw when life seemed harsh or cruel or desperate.'

Watch Dr Goodall's deeply personal final message to the world, filmed by Netflix in March 2025 on the understanding it would only be released after her death.