The World Conservation Union Releases Red List of Threatened Plants
4/29/98
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Title: The World Conservation Union Releases Red List of Threatened Plants
Source: Earth First!
Status: Distribute freely with proper credit to source
Date: 4/29/98
IUCN RED LIST OF THREATENED PLANTS
On April 8th 1998 the most comprehensive scientific assessment ever assembled
on the status of the world's plants was released by IUCN - the world
conservation union.
The publication of the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants marks a turning
point for conservation. The book, an important new conservation tool, provides
baseline information to measure conservation progress and serves as a primary
source of data on plant species. Most importantly however the IUCN Red List
provides the building blocks on which to base worldwide efforts to conserve
plant species and the eco-systems they inhabit.
There are an estimated 270,00 known species of vascular plants. Of the species
assessed, 33,798 species, or at least 12.5 percent of all known vascular
plants, are threatened with extinction on a global level. These plants are
found in 369 families and are scattered throughout 200 countries around the
globe. Of these, 91 percent are limited to a single country - which links their
potential for extinction to national economic and social conditions.
Plants are the foundation of all life on earth, without which we cannot
survive. As a first, broad look into the global conservation status of our
world's flora, the information contained in the 1997 IUCN Red List of
Threatened Plants is grim.
When considered in conjunction with the findings in the 1996 IUCN Red List
of Threatened Animals, which revealed that 11 percent of all birds and 25
percent of all known mammal species are threatened, the implications are even
more alarming.
Please visit Eco-Compass on-line at http://www.islandpress.org for an in depth
examination of which taxa and families are affected, which species have become
extinct and which countries face the highest threats. As always we also provide
links to the best related websites and print resources.
Island Press is proud to be the US distributer for IUCN publications. Please
visit our site or call 1800 828 1302 for more information about Island Press
and IUCN publications.
Eco-Compass by Island Press
The Environmental Publisher
1 800 828 1302
info@islandpress.org
http://www.islandpress.org
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