Below: Story by Steve Farrar and part of the ReviewerÕs Aid 1997 IUCN RED LIST OF THREATENED PLANTS compiled by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre April 8, 1998. Copyright, 1998, Graphic News. All rights reserved ONE IN EIGHT PLANT SPECIES UNDER THREAT By Steve Farrar LONDON, April 8, Graphic News: THE WORLD is being stripped of its natural biodiversity, with one in eight plant species facing extinction. The first global survey of endangered plants lists some 33,798 as threatened compared to an estimated global flora of 270,000 species. The destruction of habitats and ecosystems in every continent has now put 12.5 percent at risk, species that might provide the basis for future medicines and foods. The shocking statistic was announced by the IUCN (World Conservation Union), based on a database maintained by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Dr Mark Collins, WCMC chief executive, said: ÔIt is a world event to learn what the scale of this astonishing and frightening problem is. We hope it will help governments, non-government organisations and individuals to better understand the scale and urgency of the threat, and to use this information to promote and guide actions to better conserve plant biodiversity in all its richness.Õ Botanist Professor David Bellamy, who helped launch the Red List, said, ÔWe are losing species every day and once theyÕre gone we canÕt get them back again. This is a document that the world must act on.Õ Among those facing extinction are wild yams from Mexico, which have been used to provide genes to make commercial crops resistant to disease and the east African snakebite tree, which is used by the local population as a treatment against reptile venom. In Australia, a combination of weeds and rabbits, introduced by European settlers, is threatening to destroy the beautiful bayonet spider orchid, while many species of dipterocarp timber trees in Sumatra and other parts of Indonesia are being felled towards extinction for paper production and by fires set to clear land for agriculture. To compile such a varied list took 15 years of research by individuals and organisations worldwide with the aim of focusing global attention on the problem. Mustering public concern over the plight of endangered animals like gorillas and giant pandas has proved a relatively easier task. Yet the parallel threat to plants could have a greater impact on mankind as the value of wide genetic diversity for foods, medicines and other products becomes better appreciated. /ENDS The following is part of the ReviewerÕs Aid 1997 IUCN RED LIST OF THREATENED PLANTS compiled by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre ÔPublication of the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants marks a turning point for conservation. The book, an important new conservation tool, provides baseline information to measure conservation progress and serves as a primary source of data on plant species. Most importantly, however, the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants provides the building blocks on which to base worldwide efforts to conserve plant species and the ecosystems they inhabit. ÔThe 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants is the first ever comprehensive listing of threatened plants at a global scale. It is the result of more than 20 years of work by botanists and conservationists from around the world, a massive undertaking by any measure. This unique global collection of vital conservation information should serve as a call to arms for professional and amateur conservationists around the world Ð nearly 34,000 plant species, or 12.5 percent of the worldÕs vascular flora, are threatened with extinction. Of these, a staggeringly high 91 percent are limited in their geographical distribution to single countries. Although we recognise that these numbers are still a first approximation of the threat to plant species throughout the world, they are based on thousands of references concerning plant distribution, taxonomy, and conservation status. There is still much expertise that needs to be incorporated into future IUCN Red Lists. Also there are many parts of the world where there is not enough information available, or where there is no information at all, to assess properly the conservation status of plants. We hope, then, that this first edition of the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants will serve as a stimulus and a challenge to botanists and conservationists around the world to contribute to knowledge on plants and the threats to them, and to promote increased conservation action. ... ÔConclusions Plants are the foundation of all life on earth, without which we cannot survive. As a first, broad look into the global conservation status of our worldÕs flora, the information contained in the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants is grim. Worldwide 12.5% of the worldÕs vascular plants are threatened with extinction, and it has been shown that in areas with more complete converage, even higher numbers of threatened species (20% to over 40% on some islands) are being recorded. When considered in conjunction with the findings in the 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals which revealed that 11% of all birds and 25% of all known mammal species are threatened, the implications are even more alarming. Furthermore, experts agree that we have been able to evaluate only a relatively small percentage of all species believed to exist on this planet. Therefore, this list with a high number of plants threated with extinction leads to grave concerns about the conservation status of the worldÕs biodiversity. ÔThese findings must not be ignored. Once again, the best scientific information available points to an ongoing extinction crisis Ð large numbers of the plant and animal species upon which we depend and which depend on us are on the brink of extinction. We must finally heed this message and acknowledge that there is, quite simply, no excuse for a lack of action or commitment to conserve the worldÕs biodiversity. We will not be able to justify to future generations why we did not act sooner, and there will be no way to replace what we have lost. ÔThe 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants provides the information we need to plan and carry out vigorous and meaningful plant conservation. With many plant species facing severe threats, this publication helps direct the conservation community to those in greatest need of attention. There are opportunities for safeguarding our green inheritance. We simply need to seize them. Ô SOURCE: World Conservation Monitoring Centre, 219 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 ODL Tel +44 (0)1223 277314 Fax +44 (0)1223 277136 Email: laura.battlebury@wcmc.org.uk Or: info@wcmc.org.uk URL: http://www.wcmc.org.uk