CNN —
The world’s trees are in grave danger, with an alarming number of tree species at risk of extinction, according to a new global analysis released on Monday.
The 10-year project revealed that more than one in three tree species are at risk of extinction, highlighting the scale of the crisis facing the planet’s ecosystems.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List report, released during the two-week United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Cali, Colombia, found that of the 47,282 tree species assessed, at least 16,425 are at risk of extinction. It became clear that he had been exposed. This is more than double. Total number of all endangered birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.
Fossil fuel pollution that causes global warming is threatening the trees that suck it out of the atmosphere, meaning their loss is worsening the climate crisis.
Researchers say the main threats facing trees include deforestation due to urban development, agriculture, invasive species and disease, as well as rising sea levels and more intense storms.
The list “reveals that the loss of trees directly threatens thousands of other species, plants, fungi and animals, demonstrating how deeply interconnected our natural world is.” said IUCN Director-General Gretel Aguilar at a press conference on Monday in Colombia.
“Trees are barometers of life,” Aguilar added. They produce the oxygen that humans breathe, provide food and shelter for wildlife, medicine and nutrition for indigenous peoples, and absorb heat-trapping carbon pollution from the atmosphere.
The tallest parts of the endangered tree are found on islands such as Fiji, Cuba, and Madagascar. In South America, home to the Amazon rainforest, 3,356 of the 13,668 tree species assessed are at risk of extinction due to deforestation for crop cultivation and livestock farming.
The Red List is considered the most comprehensive global source of information on endangered species and extinction. The index classifies species by Least Concern, Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Threatened, Endangered, and Extinct. These classifications are based on species abundance, distribution, habitat loss, and other threats such as the climate crisis.
Listing as an endangered species means that the species is in danger of extinction, and is a serious warning to governments and organizations to take urgent conservation action to prevent the species from becoming extinct. It is a signal.
Aguilar said those efforts need to start with trees.
“Can you imagine a planet without trees?” she added. “The task before us, as humans, is enormous because we can reverse this situation and save the trees on which we depend.”
