The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development jointly released a report detailing the current status of biodiversity in animal populations in China. Titled "Living Planet Report, China 2015," the report paints the situation in the country as dire.
Although China still has an existing rich biodiversity, the country also faces the threat of great biodiversity decline due to habitat loss and degradation of nature.
According to the report, China's domestic population of terrestrial vertebrates has nearly halved for the past four years. The country's terrestrial vertebrates include amphibians, mammals, birds and reptiles.
1,385 different animal populations, which included 405 species of amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds, comprise the data the organization collected between 1970 and 2010. According to the findings, the population has decreased by 49.7 percent.
The bulk of the loss, however, is on China's amphibian and reptile populations, which declined by 97.44 percent.
China's bird population, on the other hand, remains stable and healthy over the course of 40 years. In fact, the population has risen by 43 percent thanks to better nature reserves, regulations, and protection laws in the country.
Aside from the current conditions of China's wildlife population, the "Living Planet Report, China 2015" also tackled the issue of the country's ecological footprint, which doubled in 2010.
According to Li Lin, executive program director of WWF China, the country was "unable to provide sufficient renewable resources and services for the Chinese population."
"If everyone on this planet had the same ecological footprint as the average Chinese resident, we would need approximately 1.3 Earths to support our demands from nature," Lin added in an interview with China.org.cn.
China's ecological footprint greatly impacts the country's environment, including the increase of carbon dioxide levels, water shortages, drought, soil erosion, forest degradation and biodiversity loss.
Experts are hopeful that the report will serve us a wake-up call for China.