30% of Trees in Wild Facing Extinction
2 Min Read
A report by conservation groups suggests that almost one-third of the world's tree species are facing extinction in the wild.
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17,500 tree species are at risk
1 in 3 tree species in the wild is facing extinction, with species ranging from oaks and magnolias to tropical timber trees, according to an assessment by conservation groups.
What does this mean in numbers?
It means that of the nearly 60,000 tree species on the planet, a whopping 17,500 of them are at risk, which is almost twice the number of threatened mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles combined.
Major strides have been made in tree conservation efforts, as not only is it now known which species are in need of conservation, but also what their threats are and where these species are. "Each tree species has a unique ecological role to play," says co-chair of the Global Tree Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Sara Oldfield. "With 30% of the world's tree species threatened with extinction, we need to urgently scale up conservation action."
According to a report by conservation groups, entitled State of the World's Trees, 142 species are extinct and 442 are on the edge of extinction, with less than 50 individual trees remaining.
The biggest three threats for trees are forest clearance for crops (29% of species), logging (27%), and clearance for livestock grazing or farming (14%). This means that despite environmental factors, conservation can still give hope for the future.
Over the past 300 years, forests have decreased by about 40%, and 29 countries have lost more than 90% of their forests.
