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The World Wildlife Fund releases its living planet report every two years. There's been a 69% decline in monitored wildlife populations between 1970 and 2018. Colin O'Mara is the head of the National Wildlife Federation. The story of how the Endangered Species Act came to be, how it worked, and how almost 50 years later it prompted another attempt to save the planet.

The Endangered Species Act was transformative in protecting animals from extinction. Vox’s Benji Jones says its proposed successor, the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, would be the most significant conservation law in decades.

This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey, and hosted by Noel King.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained

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