Planet at risk as plant species disappear

WASHINGTON, April 14: One out of every eight plant species throughout the world is now at risk of extinction, a new scientific survey, by sc...

WASHINGTON, April 14: One out of every eight plant species throughout the world is now at risk of extinction, a new scientific survey, by scientists, museums, botanical gardens and conservation organisations said. The study said habitat destruction and introduction of non-native species have caused approximately 12.5 percent of the world8217;s plants to become so rare, they could easily disappear.

This means nearly 34,000 species of ferns, conifer and flowering species, of the 270,000 known species in 200 countries, are threatened with extinction or are nearly extinct, according to the 1997 World Conservation Union IUCN red list of endangered plants.

8220;The numbers are staggering, not only because they are exceedingly large, but because we are talking about the organisms on which all animal life depends,8221; said David Brackett, chairman of IUCN8217;s Species Survival Commission.

8220;Plants clothe us, feed us and our domestic animals, and provide us with most of our medicines, yet our knowledge of their status iswoefully inadequate.8221; The red list, put together by groups including the National Botanical Institute of South Africa, the British Royal Botanic Garden Kew, and the World Wildlife Fund, revealed that 91 percent of endangered plant species are found in a single country. This limited geographic distribution can make a species more vulnerable, the report said.

Island territories are more severely threatened. Seven of the top ten areas where the percentage of threatened plants reaches 20 to over 40 percent, are islands.

To be classified as 8220;threatened,8221; a species must have reached the point at which there are fewer than 10,000 individuals worldwide, or fewer than 100 locations where it is found.

This has led to concerns about the world8217;s biodiversity. The disruption to biodiversity alters the complex web of ecosystems and could lead to outbreaks of diseases, changes in local economies and medical and agricultural research losses.

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Because plants historically provided many of the pharmaceutical drugs,widespread extinctions could affect medical science, the report said. More than one-half of all prescription drugs are modelled on natural compounds. 8220;Numerous other species whose medicinal value has not yet been studied are also at risk,8221; Brackett said, adding agriculture could be affected by the loss in plant species. 8220;Food crops were once wild plants.

We are still breeding those wild relatives of our crop species to improve disease resistance and increase yields and other desirable traits,8221; he said.Local economies too could be endangered. The Mapuche Indians depend on the forest as a source of pliable stems of the coral plant which they weave into baskets and sell throughout South America.

Deforestation has threatened the plant, the Mapuche8217;s living and the cultural heritage of their craft.

8220;The situation needs to change and this is a call to conservation action,8221; Brackett said. 8220;We need to invest in botany. We can8217;t afford to neglect the fate of the world8217;s plants.8221;