Stressed by encroaching development, deforestation, and climate change, more than a third of the Earth’s tree species are at risk of extinction and upending the ecosystems that depend on them.
For the first time, a majority of the world’s tree species were assessed by a global team of more than a thousand specialists working with the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. The research, presented this week at the U.N. Biodiversity Conference, or COP16 in Cali, Colombia, reveals that tens of thousands of tree species could disappear forever.
