A fifth of all wild plant species face extinction
By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent
Sep 29, 2010 6:43am EDT LONDON (Reuters) – One in five of the world’s 380,000 plant species is threatened with extinction and human activity is doing most of the damage, according to a global study published on Wednesday. Scientists from Britain’s Botanic Gardens at Kew, London’s Natural History Museum and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), found that more than 22 percent of species were endangered, critically endangered or vulnerable. “The single greatest threat is conversion of natural habitats to agricultural use, directly impacting 33 percent of threatened species,” the report said. The findings were released ahead of a United Nations summit scheduled for mid-October in Nagoya, Japan where governments are due to set new targets for trying to conserve more of the world’s plants and animals. “We cannot sit back and watch plant species disappear — plants are the basis of all life on earth, providing clean air, water, food and fuel. All animal and bird life depends on them and so do we,” said Stephen Hopper, Kew’s director. … “The diversity of plants underpins all life on earth, so it is sobering that our own species is threatening the survival of many thousands of plant species,” said Neil Brummitt, a botanical diversity researcher at the Natural History Museum. “We’ve set the baseline. Now we need to all work together to safeguard not only the future of plants but the future of ourselves.” …
Fifth of world’s plants endangered: global study
By Andy Coghlan
29 September 2010
They’re not as photogenic as pandas, nor as captivating as tigers: among conservationists, plants have tended to attract rather less attention than animals. That could start to change with the publication this week of the first list of extinction risks for the world’s plants. The Sampled Red List Index for Plants indicates that 22 per cent of all wild plant species face extinction, comparable to the figure for mammals (21 per cent) and higher than that for birds (12 per cent). Of the threatened plant species, 63 per cent are found in tropical rainforest areas which could soon be cleared. The aim is to provide a baseline for future assessments, and to put plants firmly on the conservation agenda. “If all the plants vanish, so will all animals and birds,” says Eimear Nic Lughadha of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, who led the project. The UK Natural History Museum and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature were also involved. … Of these groups, the conifers and cycads are most threatened, with 36 per cent facing extinction. “It’s not a question of picking out ‘star’ plants, but saying plants are integral to human and animal health,” says Lughadha. “We do not know which plants underpin which particular ecosystems. “At the moment we’re throwing away species that we don’t fully understand.”
