The Guardian
Friday 20 November 2015
Half of tree species in the Amazon at risk of
extinction, say scientists
Damian Carrington
More than half the myriad tree species in the
Amazon could be heading for extinction, according to a study that makes the first comprehensive
estimate of threatened species in the world’s largest rainforest. Among the
species expected to suffer significant falls in numbers are the Brazil nut, and
wild cacao and açai trees, all important food sources.
The world’s most diverse forest has endured
decades of deforestation, with loggers, farmers and miners responsible for the
removal of 12% of its area. If that continues in the decades ahead, 57% of the
15,000 tree species will be in danger, according to the researchers.
However, if existing protected areas and
indigenous territories across the vast area suffer no further damage, the
number of species at risk would be restricted to a third of the total.
“Forests in the Amazon have been declining
since the 1950s, but [until now] there was a poor understanding of how this has
affected populations of individual species,” said Prof Carlos Peres, at the
University of East Anglia, one of the 158 scientists from 21 countries who
worked together on the study.
“Protected areas and indigenous territories
now cover over half of the Amazon basin. But forests and reserves still face a
barrage of threats, from dam construction and mining, to wildfires and droughts intensified by global warming.”
Virola surinamensis, a valuable timber tree in
Caxiuanã National Fores, Brazil Photograph: H. Steege/Science Advance
Brazil, which holds 60% of the Amazon forest,
has sharply cut its rates of deforestation in
the last decade. But elsewhere the felling continues unchecked, and it is
increasing in Bolivia and Peru. Overall, an area the size of about 4,500
football pitches is still being lost every day.
If Brazil can restrict its deforestation to
current levels and other countries improve to match that, protected areas could
remain largely untouched. But Rafael Salomão, of Emílio Goeldi Museum in Belem, Brazil,
and a member of the research team, said: “The vast majority of protected areas
in the Amazon have no management plan or budget and few resident qualified
personnel.”
Furthermore, demand for beef, soy and palm
oil, which drives much deforestation, is likely to rise rapidly as the global
population grows, increasing the pressure to clear more forest. “It’s a battle
we’re going to see play out in our lifetimes,” said William Laurance, of James
Cook University in Australia, who was also part of the study.
Scientists
reveal there are 3tn trees in the world
The study, published in the journal Science
Advances, compared almost 1,500 forest surveys from across the
Amazon with maps of current and projected deforestation. From this, the
scientists could estimate how the overall populations of the different tree
species have changed and how they may change in future.
They used these population changes to work out
how threatened the species were according to the criteria used by the IUCN
(International Union for Conservation of Nature) to draw up its “red lists”
of endangered species. To be placed on the red list of species requires
detailed analysis of past and projected population changes.
In the last 10 years, scientists have had the resources to place
1,275 plant species from tropical South America on red lists. The much broader
approach taken in the new research provides strong evidence that the number of
red-listed Amazonian tree and plants should be 10 times higher.
If the Amazon nations are unable to check
deforestation between now and 2050, the scientists estimate that 63% of wild
Brazil nut trees will be lost. But if protected areas are left intact, the loss
falls to 32% – a major decline, nevertheless, which would still class the
species as vulnerable to extinction. Similarly, continued deforestation would
lead to the loss of 72% of wild açai palm and 50% of wild cacao trees.
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