"The explosive growth of human consumption" has caused a huge decline in the population of wild animals in recent decades, concludes the next report of the Living Planet of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

According to the study, the population of vertebrate species - mammals, fish, birds, amphibians and reptiles - has declined by about 60% since 1970.

"The Earth is losing its biological diversity at a speed that was previously observed only during mass extinctions," add the report's authors..

They call for new global indicators for sustainable development..

The Living Planet report is published every two years and analyzes the state of the world's fauna.. Ecologists summarize data on 4 thousand species of birds, fish, mammals, amphibians and reptiles..