AFP, Geneva :
More than half of Europe’s endemic tree species, including the horse-chestnut, risk extinction, conservationists warned Friday, blaming invasive species, unsustainable logging and urban development for their decline.
In an update to the tree section of its “Red List” of threatened species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said that out of the 454 tree species native to Europe, 42 percent could disappear from the continent.
And a full 58 percent of the tree species endemic to Europe, meaning that they only exist on the continent, were now considered threatened with extinction.
Even more worrying, the update found that 15 percent of them, or 66 species, were considered “critically endangered”, or just a step away from going extinct.
The report comes amid a growing sense of urgency to address global environmental degradation, with fires raging in the Amazon and following UN warnings in May that climate change, habitat loss and other factors are pushing one million plant and animal species to the brink of extinction.
The IUCN described the development for Europe’s tree species as “alarming”, saying pests and diseases were especially fuelling their decline as well as invasive plants introduced by humans.
More than half of Europe’s endemic tree species, including the horse-chestnut, risk extinction, conservationists warned Friday, blaming invasive species, unsustainable logging and urban development for their decline.
In an update to the tree section of its “Red List” of threatened species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said that out of the 454 tree species native to Europe, 42 percent could disappear from the continent.
And a full 58 percent of the tree species endemic to Europe, meaning that they only exist on the continent, were now considered threatened with extinction.
Even more worrying, the update found that 15 percent of them, or 66 species, were considered “critically endangered”, or just a step away from going extinct.
The report comes amid a growing sense of urgency to address global environmental degradation, with fires raging in the Amazon and following UN warnings in May that climate change, habitat loss and other factors are pushing one million plant and animal species to the brink of extinction.
The IUCN described the development for Europe’s tree species as “alarming”, saying pests and diseases were especially fuelling their decline as well as invasive plants introduced by humans.
