BUFFALO, N.Y. — The global conservation group Botanic Gardens Conservation International recently released its "State of The World's Trees" report, a five-year collaborative effort that involved hundreds of tree experts.
Forests cover 31% of the Earth and are critical to the ecology, so the findings for trees in the United States are sobering. Abby Meyer is the Executive Director of BGCI's U.S. office in Los Angeles.
"About nine hundred tree species native to the continental U.S., and we found that around 165 of them are threatened, so about 1 out of 9, maybe around 15% of tree species in the U.S. are threatened with extinction."
Along with the U.S. study, BGCI also conducted a global assessment. Meyer says those findings are even more ominous.
"And we found that around thirty percent of species around the world, of tree species around the world, are threatened with extinction."
Trees are important to the global economy, but even more importantly, they are of the essence to the natural world. They are part of the foundation of the planet.
"Trees are keystone species in most major ecosystems on earth, and that's where many organisms depend on it," explains Meyer. "They provide homes to all of these hundreds and even thousands of different species on a single tree."
So why are so many tree species threatened? There is a jungle of reasons." The biggest threats that we found in the U.S. are similar to the rest of the world as well, invasive pests and diseases." Also, climate change plays a really big role, and things like land conversion and agriculture, so just habitat loss. So, those are some of the biggest threats."
Seeing that humanity bears responsibility for much of what's happening to forests, we can try to heal them as well. Using fewer resources, being mindful of spreading invasive species, or volunteering for a conservation group are simple ways to help. It's something we can all take part in. After all, we can't live without trees.
"There's no technical reason that a species should go extinct. We have the science and ability. We just need to get the will."
To read the entire BGCI report, click here.
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