Australia's loss of biodiversity is unprecedented in human history but it is well-positioned to reach global targets to slow the devastation, conservation group WWF says.

The warning is included in a report released today by WWF International, 2010 and Beyond: Rising to the Biodiversity Challenge, which outlines the global decline of plants and animals.

• 27 percent of species declined since 1970
• Australia 6th waste producer in the world
• 40 percent of all extinct mammal species are in Australia
• Australia well positioned to slow species loss

Its Living Plant Index tracks nearly 4,000 species of fish, birds, reptiles, mammals and amphibians worldwide.

On average, indexed species have declined by 27 per cent from 1970 to 2005.

WWF Australia director of conservation Ray Nias said 40 per cent of all mammal species that have become extinct in human history were in Australia.

"The recent impact we've had in Australia is probably unprecedented in modern human history because of the speed and the scale of the impact," Dr Nias told AAP.

"In just 70 years we've done the sort of damage to this continent that most other continents took tens of thousands of years to achieve."

Australia has very old and poor soils resulting in a fragile landscape highly susceptible to degradation, he said.

The Tasmanian Tiger and numerous small bandicoots and kangaroos were driven to extinction once European farming methods took hold in the 20th century, Dr Nias said.

In 2002, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity set targets to achieve reductions in the current rate of biodiversity at global, regional and national levels.

However, today's report shows those targets will not be met unless countries make a greater effort to reduce the environmental impact of their populations.

Dr Nias said Australia was well positioned to slow the trend but must focus on greenhouse gas emissions and reducing its dependence on coal as a power fuel source.

"Australia will be able to achieve some of those targets if it chooses to do so," he said.

"We have the scientific capacity in Australia, we have the money, we have the skills and we have a good system of democratic government."

The report also ranked countries by the ecological footprint an average citizen requires.

Australia was listed sixth out of 146 countries, making it one of the top waste producers in the world.

The United States, the United Arab Emirates, Finland, Canada and Kuwait were the only nations with higher rankings.

A footprint takes into account all cropland, grazing land, forest and fishing grounds required to produce the food, fibre and timber a country consumes, and to dispose of the associated waste.

The top component for most countries was CO2 gas emissions, which accounts for more than half of Australia's waste, the report reveals.