WWF’s 2026 Living Planet Report says monitored vertebrate wildlife populations have declined by an average of 73% since 1970, while conservation successes such as New Zealand’s kākāpō recovery show that populations can improve with sustained intervention. The figure describes changes in monitored populations, not the share of individual animals or species that have disappeared.
The report, released on October 8, also highlights recoveries involving tigers, turtles, tuna and elephants, according to WWF’s UK announcement. A commentary published the same day by Helen Pilcher in The Guardian uses the kākāpō, a critically endangered New Zealand parrot, as an example of why conservation efforts can offer grounds for hope.
What the report measures
WWF’s US publication page says the report’s index draws on 35,803 population trends covering 5,790 vertebrate species from 1970 to 2022. Half of the populations included in the index were stable or increasing, the page says.
The headline decline is an average change across monitored populations. It does not mean that 73% of all wildlife, or 73% of the species studied, vanished during the period. The distinction matters: the index tracks population trends, while its average summarizes the direction and scale of those changes across the monitored data.
WWF’s findings present a broad picture of pressure on wildlife alongside examples of recovery. The organization’s UK announcement identifies tigers, turtles, tuna and elephants among the examples, while Pilcher’s commentary focuses on a parrot whose numbers have grown from a very small population under an intensive recovery programme.
A population milestone, with a corrected count
The kākāpō population stood at 325 birds on September 1, 2026, according to New Zealand’s Department of Conservation. The agency said it added 90 surviving chicks from the breeding season to the official count. That figure corrects the Guardian commentary’s statement that 324 birds were alive.
The Department of Conservation says its recovery programme began in 1995, when 51 kākāpō remained. The species is still critically endangered, despite the increase. The September population update records a milestone, not an end to the threats or the need for continued management.
The difference between 324 and 325 is small, but the updated count is the more recent verified figure. The Department of Conservation’s September release and a separate Guardian report published on September 1 both gave the total as 325 after the surviving chicks were counted.
Intensive management behind the recovery
The Department of Conservation describes a hands-on programme built around predator-free island refuges, radio-transmitter tracking and nest monitoring. Conservation staff also provide supplementary food and, when needed, hand-rear chicks. These measures are part of the management associated with the species’ recovery from its 1995 low.
The programme includes assisted breeding, including artificial insemination, as well as genomic research, according to the department. The available evidence supports those elements of the recovery work, but does not independently confirm the commentary’s specific claim that the genome of every living kākāpō has been sequenced.
The kākāpō example illustrates the difference between a worsening global measure and a local conservation gain. WWF’s index reports average declines across monitored vertebrate populations over decades, while the New Zealand population count shows a species can increase under targeted protection and management. Neither figure cancels out the other.
Hope alongside continuing risk
Pilcher’s commentary frames the parrot’s recovery as a reason to resist despair about biodiversity loss. The verified population history supports a limited version of that argument: the number of kākāpō has risen from 51 in 1995 to 325 as of September 2026, with a sustained recovery programme in place. The bird remains critically endangered.
The report’s broader findings also put that example in context. WWF says its index includes thousands of population trends, and half of those populations were stable or increasing, even as the overall average showed a 73% decline since 1970. The figures describe different patterns within the monitored data rather than a single uniform outcome for wildlife.
The available reporting supports the central contrast between widespread declines and specific conservation recoveries. It does not independently verify every additional policy or psychological-research claim made in the Guardian commentary, so those claims are not included here.