The new Living Planet Report is out. Published every two years, it assesses the health of the natural world and, historically, it’s made for gloomy reading.

Take 2024’s report, which showed global wildlife populations had plummeted by 73% in 50 years and that ecosystems were being pushed toward collapse.

After reading it, I retired to a dark room and drank gin, but every time I popped my head out, there was more bad news: heatwaves, floods, wildfires and mass coral bleaching.

So, when this year’s edition dropped, I braced myself. But there was a plot twist. Biodiversity is still being pummelled, but not everywhere. According to the new report, conservationists have prevented the extinction of 32 birds and 16 mammals since 1993, and the numbers of wild tigers, elephants and sea otters are stable or growing. The energy sector has historically been extremely damaging to the planet, accounting for about 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions. But the report notes we have passed a positive tipping point in the energy system, with the transition to renewables snowballing and coal use declining in many wealthy countries.

I can therefore see why the report is titled The Science of Hope.

But pegging it on hope is a bold move. People who write about the natural world, myself included, face a difficult choice. Focus on the bad news, and risk shouting into a void where people simply don’t want to listen. Focus........

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