One third of the world’s and Latin America’s forest wealth under threat – study

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to a study released Wednesday, September 1, one-third of the forest wealth in Latin America and the Caribbean is under threat of extinction, a percentage similar to that of the rest of the planet.

According to the “World Forestry Report ” of Botanic Gardens Conservation International, published Wednesday, of the nearly 60,000 tree species cataloged worldwide, around 30% are threatened with extinction.

Latin America and the Caribbean is the region with by far the greatest forest richness: almost 24,000 classified tree species (40% of the world total), of which 7,000 are under threat (31%).

According to this global classification, which took five years of work by a network of official and non-governmental organizations around the world to compile, only 31 species are considered to be definitely “extinct” (0.1%).

The region of the planet most affected by the risk of extinction is Africa. Of the slightly more than 9,000 classified tree species, almost 40% are under threat.

Agriculture, logging, and livestock farming together account for 70% of the threats, while climate change accounts for only 4%.

Over the last 300 years, forest area has declined by 40% worldwide. Twenty-nine countries lost more than 90% of their trees. That would practically coincide with the Industrial Revolution, which represented an economic and demographic growth unparalleled in the history of mankind, doubling its life expectancy.

Seven commodity crops account for more than half of the world’s deforestation, explains Botanic Gardens Conservation International.

But there are other reasons as well. The Honduras rosewood (Dalbergia stevensonii) is a Central American tree whose wood is incredibly dense, highly prized for making musical instruments. Because of demand, the forests of this prized species in Belize have all but disappeared, and the tree is on the Red List of Critically Endangered species.

It is not simply a matter of reforesting, but of reforesting with the most appropriate tree species and with variety, to try to mimic the randomness of nature.

“Tree species that have evolved over millions of years, adapting to climatic changes, cannot now survive the devastation caused by human threats,” explained Jean-Christophe Vié, director-general of the Franklinia Foundation.

SITUATION IN THE AMAZON

According to another study also published Wednesday (1) in the journal Nature, the situation is worrisome in the Amazon basin, by far the richest and most biodiversity-dense sub-region on the planet.

According to the study, the results show that between 103,079 and 189,755 km2 of the Amazon rainforest have suffered fires since 2001.

The Amazon rainforest, which extends over parts of nine countries, has a total area of about 5.5 million km2. That area has decreased by 20% compared to the 1960s, the study recalls.

“The impact of fires was lower between 2009 and 2018, but we observed an increase in 2019, which coincided with a relaxation of forest policies” in Brazil, the most affected country, Xiao Feng, author of the study, has told AFP.

For every 10,000 km2 of forest burned, some 30 plant species and 2.5 animal species suffer significant habitat loss, according to Feng.

Source: afp