Global Report Reveals Over 1/3 of Tree Species Risk Extinction

While trees are silent and immobile, they possess tremendous ability and offer multiple benefits to allow all life on our planet.

Trees can provide the essentials of life to all living things on Earth—oxygen, food, and other necessities like medicine, tools, and shelter. With modernisation, population growth, and urban growth, trees offer other essential benefits, like improving air quality, reducing city air temperatures, and mitigating climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide emissions.

Tree people provide an exhaustive list of the benefits of trees. These include cooling the streets and cities, conserving energy by cooling, eliminating the need for air conditioning, saving water, preventing water pollution and soil erosion, reducing noise pollution, creating beautiful spaces, and more.

However, trees face significant challenges, as well as their life-giving and life-enhancing abilities. According to the first Global Tree Assessment of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) global assessment, 38% of trees are at risk. They face threats from climate change, deforestation, invasive species, pests, and diseases in almost every country.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a union of government and civil society organisations working to advance sustainable development and create a just world that values and conserves nature.

Most of the world’s trees have been listed on the IUCN Red List for the first time, revealing that at least 16,425 of the 47,282 species assessed are at risk of extinction. Trees now account for over one-quarter of species on the IUCN Red List, and the number of threatened trees is more than double that of all threatened birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians combined. Tree species are at risk of extinction in 192 countries around the world.

According to Dr Grethel Aguilar, IUCN Director General, “More than one in three tree species are threatened with extinction. Trees are essential to support life on Earth through their vital role in ecosystems, and millions of people depend upon them for their lives and livelihoods.”

The most threatened trees are on islands and at high risk from deforestation for urban development, agriculture, invasive species, pests, and diseases. Climate change is increasingly threatening trees, especially in the tropics, through sea-level rise and stronger, more frequent storms. Mitigating these risks and preventing trees from becoming extinct entail habitat protection, restoration, and ex-situ conservation through seed banks and botanic garden collections.

The IUCN also shows that tree loss is a major threat to thousands of other plants, fungi, and animals. Trees are fundamental to life on Earth through their role in carbon, water, and nutrient cycles, soil formation, and climate regulation. People also rely on trees; more than 5,000 tree species are used for timber in construction, and over 2,000 are used for medicines, food, and fuel.

The IUCN Red List, a critical indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity, now includes 166,061 species, of which 46,337 are threatened with extinction. Far more than a list of species and their status, the IUCN Red List is a powerful tool to inform and catalyse action for biodiversity conservation and policy change, critical to protecting the natural resources we need to survive.

“This comprehensive assessment presents the first global picture of the conservation status of trees, which enables us to make better-informed conservation decisions and take action to protect trees where it is urgently needed,” said Dr Malin Rivers, Global Tree Assessment lead at Botanic Gardens Conservation International, a Red List Partner. “The work is a global effort, with over 1,000 tree experts involved. We need to continue to work together to scale up local, national and international tree conservation action to support people and the planet.”

WEF lists five organisations that are protecting threatened tree species:

1. The Zurich Forest Project, in partnership with the non-profit Instituto Terra, is tripling the land it owns in South America’s Atlantic Forest, where it is restoring degraded trees. They are also creating a tree nursery capable of growing 1 million seedlings annually.
2. Tech company Saleforce’s 100 million target is to restore and plant trees by 2030. By June 2024, they have reached 50% of their goal.
3. Flash Forest’s drone technology. The start-up company uses drones to reforest after wildfires. Drones can plant up to 1 million seed pods daily, selecting the most suitable tree species for the soil and one that captures the most carbon dioxide.
4. Pano Al’s wildfire-fighting technology. Its AI is trained on 300 million images of wildfires. Its 360-degree high-resolution cameras scan the landscape to spot the first signs of a fire, cutting response times from hours to minutes and allowing emergency services to contain the blaze.
5. Manulife’s reforestation mission. Since 1985, the company has planted more than 1.4 billion trees through its projects. In 2022, it launched the $500 million Manulife Forest Climate Fund, which aims to help address climate change by buying, planting, and sustainably managing timber forests.