A new report by an international group of scientists has revealed that the Amazon rainforest could be at risk of total extinction. The authors caution that although parks and reserves have been a great help in protecting trees, they are not sufficient. According to the researchers, Amazon’s tree population has declined since the 1950s. However, botanists are still unsure how individual species populations have changed. This international team included scientists from Brazil, the USA, Australia, Brazil, France and Germany. They also came from Brazil, Bolivia, Australia. The UK. Ecuador. Brazil. France. Germany. Colombia. Peru. Colombia. Venezuela. French Guiana. Italy. Suriname. Mauritius. 5,500,000 square kilometres (2,100,000 sq mi) of the Amazon basin are covered by the rainforest. Image: Wikipedia. The new study used data collected from Amazon forest surveys to compare them with projected and current deforestation maps. This allowed scientists to determine how many tree species were lost and where they are located. 57% of Amazon rainforest species facing threats The researchers concluded that there are probably over 15,000 tree species in the Amazon, with up to 57% of them likely to be globally threatened according to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species criteria. Nigel Pitman (a Field Museum senior conservation ecologist in Chicago, Illinois) was the co-author. He explained that “we aren’t saying the situation has suddenly become worse for tree species. We’re just offering a new estimate of how tree species have been affected by historical deforestation, and how they’ll be affected by forest loss in the future.” The authors, who had previously reported in the journal Science that more than 15,000 tree species may exist in the Amazon, now estimate that up to 8,690 of them may face extinction. As the rest of the world’s tropical regions face the same trends as Amazonia, the scientists believe that most of Earth’s 40,000 or more tropical tree species likely face a similar risk. Amazonia is home to the most diverse collection of plant and animal species. They also say that the area’s indigenous territory and protected areas cover over half the basin and likely contain significant populations of endangered species. Conservation efforts are helping. Hans ter Steege is a Senior Research Fellow at Naturalis Biodiversity Center. He said, “This good news from Amazon you don’t get enough of. The Amazon has made significant progress in recent years, expanding their parks and strengthening the rights of indigenous landowners. Our study shows that this is a huge benefit for biodiversity,” Professor Carlos Peres from the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, UK said. Reserves and parks cannot prevent endangered species’ extinction if the land does not suffer further degradation. The Amazon rainforest faces many challenges, including deforestation. Amazon rainforest faces barrage of threats. Researchers warned that there are still many threats to the Amazon rainforest, such as dam construction and droughts, which can be intensified due to global warming. Rafael Salomao, who is a researcher at the Emilio Goeldi Museum, Belem in Brazil said that the Amazon rainforest faces a multitude of threats. He said, “The vast majority” of Amazon protected areas have no budget or management plans and very few qualified staff. William Laurance, from James Cook University, Australia said, “It’s an uphill battle that we will see unfold in our lifetimes. We must either protect these important parks and native reserves or we will see deforestation and massive extinctions. $1 million is needed to assess the status of tree species. The scientists stress that their findings are not sufficient to create a formal red-list for Amazonian trees. These species must be assessed individually by country-level teams as well as members of IUCN/Species Survival Commission Global Tree Specialist Group. This will ensure that they are properly redlisted. According to the authors, “A Brazilian study on the threat status for 4 ,617 plants species in Brazil found that there was a cost per specie of US $50..” It would be expensive to individually assess the threatened species and make their threats visible to conservation groups.
