The WWF Living Planet Report 2026 makes grim reading for anyone who loves African safaris. Between 1970 and 2022, monitored terrestrial and freshwater wildlife populations across the continent shrank by an average of 80%, putting Africa alongside Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia-Pacific, as the regions with the steepest declines.
The global picture isn't much brighter. The Living Planet Index, built by the Zoological Society of London from 35,803 monitored populations across 5,790 vertebrate species, records a 73% average decline worldwide. Freshwater species have fared worst — down 85% globally — with dams and river fragmentation cutting off migration routes. Terrestrial populations fell 69% and marine populations 59%.
There's an important nuance here, though. The 73% figure is an average change in population sizes, not a count of vanished animals. Half of the monitored populations were actually stable or growing: 43% increasing and 7% holding steady. The declines are concentrated in specific regions and species, driven mostly by habitat loss and degradation, followed by overexploitation, climate change, pollution, invasive species and disease.
The report also points a finger at money. In 2023, roughly US$7.3 trillion flowed into activities that damage nature, against just US$220 billion for protecting or restoring it. Food production, energy generation and financial systems are named as the three big engines of biodiversity loss — which is why the report argues that conservation projects alone can't fix the problem while those wider systems stay the same.
So where's the hope? Southern Africa offers one of the report's flagship examples. While savannah elephants remain endangered overall and are declining across much of their range, some populations in the south are growing — specifically in areas where local communities lead the management of land shared with elephants. It's a case for community-led conservation and coexistence, not fences and exclusion. The report cites similar recoveries among wild tigers, bluefin tuna and green sea turtles, proof that coordinated, adaptable conservation works when it gets sustained support.
For travellers, this matters more than it might seem. The wildlife that draws people to the Okavango, the Serengeti or South Africa's reserves depends on ecosystems that also supply freshwater, regulate climate and pollinate crops — their decline affects local communities and livelihoods first. Choosing operators and destinations that genuinely involve neighbouring communities is one of the few direct levers a visitor has. Money spent well in conservation-led tourism is exactly the kind of investment the report says nature needs more of.
The report, subtitled The Science of Hope, closes with a call for countries to actually deliver on existing commitments — the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Paris Agreement — while restoring ecosystems and halting deforestation. The data is sobering, but the elephant recoveries in southern Africa show the trendline can bend the other way.
