15 Percent of Tree Species Around the World are Under the Threat of Extinction

By KM Diaz, | April 10, 2017

The major threats for tree species are deforestation and overexploitation.

The major threats for tree species are deforestation and overexploitation.

Approximately 75 percent of the Earth's species will eventually be extinct, and the planet will endure the sixth mass extinction. According to the World Wildlife Fund, people killed almost two-thirds of the world's vertebrates. Apart from these species, thousands of trees around the world also face the threat of extinction due to human activity.

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Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) is a UK-based organization that has a global database of the tree species around the world. The database reveals that a lot of trees will eventually be wiped out. The members of the organization which involves hundreds of botanical institutions worldwide presented the data from about 500 published sources to make the online database GlobalTreeSearch, world's first "global, authoritative list of tree species."

BGCI together with the International Union for Conservation of Nature identified 60,065 tree species living on the Earth, and more than half only seen in a single country. According to the authors of the database, the findings rose the vulnerability of tree species in the world. The researchers further explained their findings in a paper published in Journal of Sustainable Forestry.

There are 20,000 tree species or at least 30 percent of the world's trees which are under the conservation status. On the other hand, 9,600 tree species, or 15 percent of the tree's population in the world are considered threatened with extinction. A particular species, the Karomia gigas, or also known as "Chinese Hats tree," only have one population of trees still living, six are located in the remote area of Tanzania. The tree became extinct due to overharvesting for construction, and furniture-making. But deforestation and overexploitation are the major threats for tree species worldwide.

The BGCI organization hopes that the database will become an important tool in conserving the tree species. The database lists all the geographical distribution of tree species that could help conservationists to find individual species if it's under the threat of extinction.

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