Signal 75% of land and 66% of ocean significantly altered since 1970

Summary

The report states that since 1970 human activity has heavily changed and degraded at least three quarters of the planet's land surface and two thirds of its ocean. This is offered as a headline measure of the scale of biodiversity loss. The report identifies five drivers of that loss, namely pollution, invasive species, climate change, overexploitation and the loss or degradation of habitat. Since 1990, some 420 million hectares of forest, an area bigger than India, have disappeared through land conversion. The report holds that such losses weaken ecosystem functions and directly affect the economy and human wellbeing. Through the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, countries have agreed that 30% of degraded land and sea should be restored by 2030.