Colcom Foundation Cites Research Tying Population to Wildlife Loss

Global vertebrate populations dropped 69% between 1970 and 2018, according to the WWF 2022 Living Planet Report. The report attributed the decline primarily to growing human numbers and economic activity, with agricultural expansion playing a leading role. The figure covers mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Colcom Foundation places this finding near the front of its argument about population and the environment.

A Body of Peer-Reviewed Work

The foundation draws on several studies to make its case. Cafaro et al. (2022), writing in Biological Conservation, concluded that population growth is a fundamental driver of biodiversity loss worldwide and that preserving what remains requires smaller human populations. Bradshaw et al. (2021), published in Frontiers in Conservation Science, went further, linking excessive human numbers and overconsumption to a sixth mass extinction of non-human species.

Colcom Foundation also lists the 2019 Global Assessment Report from IPBES, the intergovernmental science-policy platform on biodiversity and ecosystem services, among its reference materials. Together, these sources form the scientific backbone of the foundation’s public case.

From Habitat to Policy

The mechanism the foundation describes is straightforward. More people require more cropland, housing, roads, and water, and each expansion claims territory that wild species once occupied. The foundation’s list of long-term consequences includes habitat destruction, freshwater depletion, and accelerating extinctions.

Colcom Foundation’s prescriptions vary by region. Where fertility runs high, it backs voluntary family planning and women’s education, approaches it says decades of demographic research have shown to lower birth rates. For low-fertility nations such as the United States, it favors immigration policy that would hold population growth at zero.

The foundation pairs those measures with reduced per capita consumption, describing the two efforts as complementary pillars. Its position is that saving biodiversity depends on addressing both how much each person uses and how many people are using it. The underlying formula, I = P x A x T, makes that link explicit by multiplying population, affluence, and technology to arrive at total environmental impact. See related link for more information.

More about Colcom Foundation on https://www.colcomfdn.org/

Global vertebrate populations dropped 69% between 1970 and 2018, according to the WWF 2022 Living Planet Report. The report attributed the decline primarily to growing human numbers and economic activity, with agricultural expansion playing a leading role. The figure covers mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Colcom Foundation places this finding near the front of…

Global vertebrate populations dropped 69% between 1970 and 2018, according to the WWF 2022 Living Planet Report. The report attributed the decline primarily to growing human numbers and economic activity, with agricultural expansion playing a leading role. The figure covers mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Colcom Foundation places this finding near the front of…