The average size of wildlife populations has plummeted by two-thirds worldwide since 1970 as forests were felled to grow food, green group WWF said Thursday, warning that harming ecosystems hikes the risk to humans of infectious diseases like COVID-19. Land conversion for farming and the wildlife trade were key reasons for the 68% average drop across thousands of populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish between 1970 and 2016, according to WWF's Living Planet Report 2020. "Deforestation and in the larger sense, habitat loss - which is driven by how we produce and consume food - is the main cause of this dramatic decline," said Fran Price, leader of the global forest practice at WWF International. Price pointed the finger at large-scale commercial agriculture mainly in the tropics and sub-tropics, including the production of palm oil, soy and beef. Environmentalists say conserving existing forests and restoring damaged ones reduces the risk of flooding, helps limit global warming by storing more carbon and protects biodiversity. The WWF report, with contributions from about 125 experts, tracked almost 21,000 populations of nearly 4,400 vertebrate species, giving an overview of the state of the natural world.

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