Posted on February, 25 2025

By Wendy Elliott, Interim Leader, Biodiversity Practice

Wildlife. Life that is wild. A source of poetry and art, technological innovation and pharmaceutical advances. 

Providing a wealth of spiritual and cultural connection, crucial to many indigenous communities as important teachers - or sometimes even kin.

What is less known is how wildlife underpins our very existence. 

It’s well understood that we need wild animals to pollinate our crops – one of every three bites of food we eat relies on animal pollinators.


The wild bumble bee is critical for kiwis, apples, tomatoes and many more crops. © Hannah L. Timmins

It’s somewhat understood that we need wildlife to disperse seeds, to keep forests healthy and naturally regenerating, a crucial process needed to mitigate climate change. 

But there are many more invisible, yet equally crucial roles that wildlife plays, without which we would quite honestly be sunk.For example wildlife is the main driver of ‘nutrient arteries’, crucial flows of essential nutrients that ensure healthy soils and fish stocks, thus supporting entire economies. 

This can most easily be described in terms of the mighty poo. 

If an animal eats somewhere, and poos somewhere else, it is moving crucial nutrients from the ‘eating’ location to the ‘pooing’ location.


Seabird excretions transfer important nutrients from the ocean directly onto land. © Hannah L. Timmins

For instance, when sperm whales dive deep in the ocean to eat squid, then poo at the surface, they bring nutrients up from the dark depths (where no photosynthesis can occur) to the surface, where the abundant sunlight then allows the nutrients to foster phytoplankton growth. 

This phytoplankton is then the basis for a wide range of marine life, including key fish stocks. 

Even more surprising is to consider that the Amazon – the single largest remaining tropical rainforest in the world – actually has incredibly poor soils. 

It relies on soil enrichment provided by tapirs, jaguars, monkeys, toucans, leafcutter ants and many more, who feed on riverside vegetation, fish or crustaceans, from nutrient rich rivers flowing from the Andes, and then to walk inland and excrete their waste onto the Amazon forest floor, thereby preventing vegetation collapse.

The value of this service is estimated at US$900 million each year.

There are many more ‘invisible’ roles of wildlife – from disease prevention, to water regulation, to disaster risk reduction, all outlined in our Nature’s Technicians report.


The deep burrowing of dung beetles creates tunnels for aeration and hydration of soils. © Peter Chadwick / WWF

But. And it is a big but. Just when we begin to better understand how fundamental wildlife is to our economies - and even survival - we are causing them to disappear at an alarming rate.

The latest Living Planet Report outlined a 73% decline in monitored vertebrate populations since the 1970s.

That’s almost a ¾ decline in around the time many of us have been alive.


The latest Living Planet Report outlined a 73% decline in monitored vertebrate populations since the 1970s. © Mark Carwardine / naturepl.com / WWF

There was great hope when the world’s governments in 2022 adopted a global framework for action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss  by 2030.

In this framework nations committed to several funding commitments, including for developed countries to raise $20 billion annually by 2025 for biodiversity in developing countries - which is the earliest deadline that needs to be to hit. 

We are now two months into 2025, but with no evidence that the 20 billion target has been reached and recent assessments indicating we are far from it. 

Let’s put this $20 billion into perspective. 

Yes it is a lot of money.  But not when considered alongside global oil revenues of over $4 trillion. Or agricultural subsidies of $540 billion. 

Several countries spend double digits of billions on space exploration each year.  

Surely it’s possible for all the world’s developed nations together to come up with the $20 billion they had promised, to save the one and only planet known to be able to sustain life – Earth.


The funding pledged to halt and reverse biodiversity loss pales in comparison to what has been committed to agricultural subsidies, which are often harmful to the environment. © Jacqueline Lisboa /WWF-Brazil

This week, global governments will meet once again – with financial resourcing to stem the biodiversity crisis at the top of the agenda. 

Building trust between governments will be absolutely essential for success. 

And core to that trust is ensuring promises made are fulfilled - including that a significant amount of resources reach Indigenous Peoples and local communities further enabling their role as custodians of biodiversity.

We need to encourage our leaders to step up and meet their financial commitments to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.

We also need our leaders to drive rapid and ambitious implementation of the biodiversity conservation commitments that were adopted in 2022.

All nations have a crucial role to play in avoiding catastrophic loss of the species and ecosystems that sustain us.

What can we do?  Share this blog. Call our political representatives.  Mobilise our communities.  Time is short to turn things around – but together, anything is possible.