by Leslie Cox; Monday; July 1, 2024
Did you know…
…almost half of all assessed plant species are threatened with extinction?
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) provides the means and support for evaluating global threats of extinction to all eukaryote species on earth – animal, plant and fungus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ is the foremost comprehensive information source on the global extinction risk to these species.
Some facts:
- There are an estimated 8,700,000 eukaryote species worldwide.
- There are an estimated 8,700,000 eukaryote species worldwide.
- IUCN has assessed 163,040 species
- 45,321 of those 163,040 species are threatened (27.8 %)
Speaking strictly about plants:
- There are approximately 391,000 species of vascular plants known to science, according to Kew Gardens
- Of the 391,000 plant species, 369,000 species are flowering plants (94 %)
- There are 71,000 plants on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™…18 % of known plant species
One of the sad facts about these Red List plant numbers is that we simply do not know the status of the remaining 82 %…whether they are safe or vulnerable or endangered or critically endangered.
Something to think about as we just ended a month which celebrates no fewer than five UN World Days which point our focus at our environment and what is happening to it.
- June 5 – World Environment Day
- June 7 – World Food Safety Day
- June 8 – World Ocean Day
- June 17 – World Day to Combat Desertification & Drought
- June 22 – World Rainforest Day
