World's animal population has plummeted by a third since the 1970s

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Numbers are plummeting and some species disappearing altogether because mankind continues to live beyond its means, a report warns.

The WWF Living Planet Index - which tracks the fortunes of hundreds of species of bird, mammal, insect and fish - found that populations were down by an average of 27 per cent.

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The most vanishing animals are victim to overfishing, intensive farming habitat loss, wildlife trade, pollution or man-made climate change

According to the WWF, most of the vanishing animals are victims of overfishing, intensive farming, habitat loss, wildlife trade, pollution or manmade climate change.

The conservation charity humans are consuming about 25 per cent more natural resources than the Earth can replace.

The report comes ahead of a major UN meeting on biological diversity next week which will discuss ways of cutting the rate of loss by 2010. It warns that Britain is unlikely to meet its targets.

The Living Planet Index looked at 1,400 species from the Amur tiger and chimpanzee, to the green turtle and polar bear. More than 4,000 population studies are included in the index.

It found the number of land animals fell by a quarter between 1970 and 2005, while freshwater creatures were down by 29 per cent.

Colin Butfield, head of campaigns at WWF-UK, said: "It is alarming that, despite an increased awareness of environmental issues, we continue to see a downward trend."

James Leape, WWF director general, added: "No one can escape the impact because reduced global diversity translates into fewer new medicines, greater vulnerability to natural disasters and greater effects from global warming."

Some populations have done well in recent years. Numbers of Siberian tigers in Russia are up and African elephants are doing well in certain areas.