Two out of five plant species worldwide are now threatened with extinction, due to climate change, biodiversity loss and pharmaceutical demand.
A new approach used by the scientists convened by the Kew Royal Botanical Gardens who publish the World’s Plants and Fungi 2020 study, determines that the general proportion of threatened species would be 39.4%, almost double of the 21% of the world’s plant species that were estimated to be in danger of extinction in 2016.
This percentage jump is due to more sophisticated conservation assessments and new analytical approaches to correct for biases in current data. Accounting for underrepresented and overrepresented plant groups and geographic areas allowed scientists to estimate the Danger of Extinction more precisely, the report explains.
The new data, the result of an unprecedented international collaboration that brought together 210 scientists from 42 countries, shows how we currently use plants and fungi, what useful properties we lack and what we risk losing.
artificial intelligence (AI)
The authors suggest that the best course of action now is to “speed up” risk assessments so that key areas can be protected and species can be conserved without delay. To achieve this, the IA (artificial intelligence) could help identify priorities for conservation assessments. This new technology can detect if an area contains multiple species that have not been assessed, but are more likely to be threatened, helping to speed up assessments of areas with the most urgent needs.
Dr Eimear Nic Lughadha, Conservation Scientist at RBG Kew and lead author of the extinction chapter, says: “We need to have a rough idea of the conservation status of each species, and we now have ways of doing this with AI approaches that are underway. to 90% accuracy. The techniques are good enough to say, “this area has many species that have not been assessed but are almost certainly threatened. And knowing that will allow us to identify the most important areas to conserve in the immediate future”.
Demand for medicines
This latest report emphasizes that the global demand for medicines of natural origin threatens some species. New data from this year’s report shows that of the 5,411 medicinal plants that have been assessed for their conservation status (of the 25,791 documented medicinal plants), 723 (13%) are classified as threatened. For fungi, only six medicinal species have been evaluated, one of which, eburiko (Fomitopsis officinalis), a parasitic wood-dwelling fungus with antimicrobial properties, has already been pushed to the brink of extinction.
The increase in demand for herbal medicines is believed to be driven by numerous factors, including the increasing prevalence of certain chronic diseases and the search for new therapies.
In the area of food, new data from this year’s report shows that there are 7,039 edible plants that have potential as future foods, but only 15 plants provide 90% of humanity’s food energy intake, and four billion people They are completely dependent on three crops: rice, corn and wheat.
For the purpose of producing energy, there are 2,500 plants identified that could be used as fuel or bioenergy, but only six crops – corn, sugar cane, soybean, palm oil, rapeseed and wheat – generate 80% of the world’s industrial biofuel. With 840 million people (mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Oceania) without access to electricity and three billion without access to clean cooking technology and fuels, new bioenergy crops are urgently needed. Renewable energy is an option.