'Domino effect': Almost one third of world's trees threatened with extinction

Nearly one in three of the world’s tree species are at risk of extinction, according to a new report that has warned of a “domino effect” that could catalyse the loss of more species.

Agriculture, logging, and livestock farming are major threats, the study said, saying climate change has the “potential to become the principal driver of collapse in most, if not all, types of forest ecosystem”.

The Menai whitebeam, which has just 30 trees growing in its North Wales home, is one of more than 400 tree species on the verge of vanishing altogether, according to the first ever “state of the world’s trees” report.

The assessment of how the world’s nearly 60,000 tree species are faring has found 30%, or 17,500, are threatened with extinction – and in Europe 58% of native trees are at risk in the wild.

Well-known species such as magnolia are among the most threatened, and oaks, maple and ebonies are also in danger, according to the report published by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).

The BGCI’s secretary general, Paul Smith, called the report a “wake up call to everyone around the world that trees need help”.

“Every tree species matters – to the millions of other species that depend on trees, and to people all over the world,” he said.

He also urged policymakers and conservation experts to “deploy the resources and expertise needed to prevent future extinctions”.

The BGCI is calling for governments and experts to boost protected areas for threatened species, conserve at-risk trees in botanic gardens and seed banks, and increase funding for the problem.

In a stark reminder of the link between the climate and biodiversity crises, the report warned that trees are at risk of sea level rise, extreme weather, warmer temperatures and increased fires driven by climate change.

Spokesperson for conservation charity Rewilding Britain, Richard Bunting, called the report “yet more evidence” that we are being “seriously outpaced by the scale of the threat from the nature and climate emergencies”.

“Nature… is at risk, with experts warning we have entered the sixth mass extinction and species being pushed into freefall,” he said.

Mr Bunting said major rewilding – the large-scale restoration of nature – was vital to halting and reversing these declines before it is too late “while tackling climate breakdown and benefiting people too”.

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Trees are the “backbone of the natural ecosystem”, the BGCI report added, storing 50% of the world’s terrestrial carbon, buffering extreme weather like hurricanes and providing a home to millions of other animal species and microorganisms.

It warned the extinction of a single tree species could cause a “domino effect”, leading to the loss of many other species.

This year is widely thought to be crucial to the world’s collective effort to curb the worst impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss.

Countries are due to meet in China in October for COP15, a ten-year update of the Convention on Global Biodiversity, and in Glasgow in November for UN climate talks COP26, billed as the “last chance” to reverse runaway climate change.

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