Wildlife populations around the world continue dropping precipitously, according to an important but limited and often misinterpreted assessment that’s issued every two years. The declines reported by the Living Planet Index, a collaboration between two large conservation organizations, have been so steep as to feel disorienting. This year is no exception: A reduction of 73 percent in the average size of monitored wildlife populations in a mere 50 years, from 1970 to 2020. The previous figure was similar, a 69 percent decline through 2018. But the findings do not mean that wildlife in general has dropped by that much. … “Wildlife population declines can lead to the loss of ecosystem function and ecosystem services to people such as carbon storage, water storage, clean air, clean water, pollination services and protection against storm surge and flooding, just to name a few,” said Rebecca Shaw, chief scientist at WWF and the lead author of a report that accompanies the new figures.