WWF's mission is to conserve nature and ecological processes. The Living Planet Report seeks to present a quantitative picture of the sate of the world's natural environment and the human pressures upon it. Specifically, it presents WWF's Living Planet Index (LPI), a measure of the change in the health of the world's natural ecosystems since 1970, focusing on the earth's forest, freshwater, and marine biomes as these contain most of the earth's biodiversity.

The report also analyses global consumption patterns to calculate Global Consumption Pressure -- a measure of the burden placed on the natural environment by humanity. People put pressure on forest, freshwater, and marine ecosystems through the production and consumption of resources such as grain, fish, wood, and freshwater, and the emission of pollutants such as carbon dioxides (CO₂).

The Living Planet Report Enhanced web site is designed to take full advantage of the latest in web technology. Streaming audio, streaming video, full length animations, and interactive action elements make the site a rich multimedia experience. In order to properly view the enhanced site you will need: Either Netscape 2.0 (or higher) or IE 3.0 (or higher) The Macromedia Flash plug-in Get Flash! 800 X 600 Monitor Preferred The Real Audio plug-in Get Real Audio!