New tool offers hope in the fight against plant extinction

Research published in the scientific journal Conservation Biology shows that transforming the means of production of crops, livestock and timber to make these activities sustainable would reduce the major contributors to the risk of extinction of terrestrial plant species in several ecosystems. The research used data from Brazil, South Africa, and Norway in a novel metric to identify opportunities to reduce the risk of plant species extinction. The work was a collaboration between international scientists and conservationists, led by Newcastle University, with full participation of members of the National Center for Flora Conservation - CNCFlora, of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden. The authors applied the new STAR metric (Species Threat Abatement and Restoration metric) to vascular plant species that were assessed for extinction risk in order to compose the national red list. The common finding among the three countries was the considerable risk that agricultural activities pose to plant species.  

In Brazil, the risk of extinction of the 2,791 endemic plant species included in the survey could be reduced by 29% by addressing the risk from agricultural activities. The 1,894 endemic plant species studied in South Africa could also see their risk of extinction reduced by 36%, while Norway could see a 54% reduction in the extinction risk of the 301 terrestrial plant species studied.

The unique situation of each country was revealed by identifying more opportunities to reduce the risk of species extinction. In Brazil, mitigating the risk from urban sprawl could reduce the risk of species extinction by 21%, while mitigating the risk from fires, which are often caused by human activities and amplified by climate change and deforestation, could reduce extinction risk by a further 10%. In South Africa, invasive species pose a major risk to endemic flora, and addressing this threat could reduce the risk of plant extinction by 21%. In Norway, a high latitude country, a 39% reduction in the risk of species extinction could be achieved by addressing threats from climate change, which is a particularly difficult challenge for conservation considering that climate change cannot necessarily be tackled locally.

Dr. Louise Mair of Newcastle University's School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, who led the research, said, "This study demonstrates the importance of considering the conservation needs of a wide range of species. While the greatest opportunity to reduce extinction risk for terrestrial plants and terrestrial vertebrates such as amphibians, birds and mammals comes from mitigating threats from agriculture, the relative importance of addressing other threats was different for plants compared to a previous study on terrestrial vertebrates."

"Although few endemic species occur in Norway, this study shows that Norway can indeed contribute to reducing global extinction risks by maintaining Arctic-alpine vascular plant populations," said Dr. Magni Olsen Kyrkjeeide of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research.

MSc. Eduardo Fernandez, Project Coordinator of the Center for Evaluation of the Conservation Status of Flora Species (NuAC), CNCFlora of the Research Institute Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro (JBRJ), and co-chair of the IUCN SSC Brazil Plant Red List Authority, who led Brazil's participation in the study, adds: "In addition to demonstrating the importance of addressing the different threats affecting the persistence of the Brazilian flora, this study also highlights the considerable research effort undertaken by Brazil so far and the importance of investing in expanding extinction risk assessments to detect threatened and near-threatened species." In addition, Eduardo Fernandez highlights that "developing research on more effective actions to combat and mitigate species loss under climate change scenarios, such as restoring forest landscapes, can help us bring back from the brink of extinction thousands of species that currently face high risk and thus enable the achievement of national and international biodiversity conservation targets."

National red lists provide a key resource to allow these analyses to capture a greater diversity of species; only 13% of plant species have a global extinction risk assessment. However, countries such as South Africa have conducted national assessments of all 20,401 plant species in their territories, while Brazil has assessed nearly 22% (7,530 of 35,683 species) of its highly diverse flora. Analyses using national red list data, as presented in this study, not only facilitate the inclusion of a greater diversity of species, but also provide insights into each country's unique conservation context.

The STAR metrics applied in this study provide a tool to enable local and national decision makers to assess their potential contribution to global species extinction risk reduction, allowing them to participate in international conservation policy processes through the lens of the national context. These analyses will be crucial to support species conservation in the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework that was agreed upon at the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, Canada, in late 2022.

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