Biodiversity crisis: 40% of world’s plants now at risk of extinction, major report finds

Two-fifths of all plants are now at risk of extinction, a major new report has warned.

Scientists are now in a race against time to discover, assess and potentially attempt to save unknown species before they vanish, the report from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, said.

In an urgent call to action, the assessment found people are failing to make crucial changes to our relationship with plants and fungi which could provide us with important new medicines, crops which can be used in industry, and food sources that are more resistant to the threat posed by the climate crisis and ecological breakdown.

The State of the World's Plants and Fungi 2020 study was undertaken by 210 scientists from 42 countries, and examines how people are currently using plants and fungi, what opportunities are being missed and what is at risk of being lost.

Professor Alexandre Antonelli, director of science at RBG Kew, said the estimate that two-fifths of species are now threatened with extinction was “a very worrying picture of risk and urgent need for action”.

“We are also losing the race against time, species are probably disappearing faster than we can find and name, and many of them could hold important clues for solving many of the pressing challenges of medicine and perhaps even some of the emerging or current pandemics,” he said.

New analysis shows an estimated 140,000, or 39.4 per cent, of vascular plants are threatened with extinction.

This is a leap from Kew's 2016 State of the World's Plants report which put the figure at 21 per cent.

The authors of the report said the rapid rise in the threat level was largely down to more sophisticated conservation assessments and new approaches to account for plants and areas that were over or under-represented in previous analysis.

The report states the biggest threat facing the biodiversity of plants is the clearance of natural habitats such as rainforest for agriculture.

The worsening climate crisis is another significant factor, with species facing rising temperatures and extremes such as drought, the study said.

Among those threatened with extinction are 723 species used for medicines, including plants used to treat circulatory disorders, skin diseases and coughs and colds, with overharvesting a problem in some parts of the world.

Scientists are identifying hundreds of new species each year, with 1,942 plants and 1,886 fungi scientifically named for the first time in 2019, including new potential food plants and medicines.

But despite making this headway, they warn that without more funding and research to speed up the identification, naming and conservation processes, many species could go extinct before they are known to science.

Some of the discoveries include plants related to species already used to treat inflammation and malaria, as well as wild relatives of spinach, cassava and sweet potato.

Eight new species of fungi related to the “old man in the woods” edible mushroom have also recently been found.

The report notes that wild relatives of our existing foods provide the genetic diversity which could eventually help develop more disease or pest-resistant crops, which could be more nutritious and more suited to a changing climate.

There are already 7,039 known edible plants which have the potential to improve food security and nutrition by broadening people's diet from the 15 crops that form 90 per cent of humanity's food energy intake.

Professor Antonelli said: “The data emerging from this year's report paint a picture of a world that has turned its back on the potential of plants and fungi to address fundamental global issues such as food security and climate change.

“At a time of rapid biodiversity loss, we are failing to access the treasure chest of incredible diversity on offer and missing a huge opportunity for our generation.”

But he also said the report offered hope that people could adopt “nature-based solutions” to address the climate crisis, loss of nature and food security.

The report suggested planting more diverse species of trees in cities, to ensure they continued to provide benefits such as cooling urban areas.

The report noted that while plants in the UK are among the most studied in the world, there is no single agreed list of the country’s flowering plants, and records for fungi are even more fractured, which can make conservation efforts all the more difficult.

Additional reporting by PA