New Report: Wildlife Plunges. Congress Must Protect the ESA.

Wildlife is disappearing across the planet at a staggering rate. According to the 2026 Living Planet Report, monitored populations of vertebrate wildlife declined by an average of 73% between 1970 and 2022 — and an astonishing 95% in Latin America and the Caribbean.

These shocking statistics represent collapsing populations of birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, and amphibians — living animals struggling to survive as human activities destroy their homes and threaten their existence.

Habitat destruction, overexploitation, pollution, and climate change are driving this crisis.

Yet as wildlife populations plunge, the Trump administration is weakening the Endangered Species Act — one of the planet’s most important safeguards against extinction.

Recent Trump changes have eliminated the longstanding regulatory definition of “harm” that covered certain habitat destruction. A subsequent Fish and Wildlife Service directive further narrowed the agency's interpretation of prohibited harm to protected animals. 

The Trump administration has also eliminated automatic protections for newly listed threatened species under a separate rule.

This is the wrong direction and if these changes stand will leave endangered wildlife exposed to habitat destruction and preventable deaths that previously triggered federal protections.

These attacks on conservation come as scientists are warning that biodiversity loss threatens entire ecosystems — and the intricate web of life that depends on them.

But the report contains good news too, including data that proves conservation works.

Green sea turtles, tigers, bluefin tuna, and other vulnerable animals have recovered in places where people protected their habitats and reduced threats to their survival.

We know what can happen when endangered animals receive meaningful protection. We also know what's at stake when those protections are weakened.

Congress must reverse these changes and preserve the safeguards that have helped prevent extinction for decades.

Please sign the petition urging Congress to reverse the Trump administration's Endangered Species Act rollbacks and restore strong protections for America's most vulnerable wildlife.

The petition to Congress reads: Reverse the Trump administration's recent Endangered Species Act rollbacks. Restore protections against harmful habitat destruction, preserve safeguards against incidental killing and injury, and ensure threatened and endangered animals receive meaningful protection. With wildlife populations already declining around the world, the United States must not weaken the laws designed to prevent extinction.
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Source:

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08102026/wildlife-populations-plunge-globally/