News Published: 28 June 2024

Today the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species released its first update for 2024 publishing 4,485 new tree species assessments. This brings the total number of trees on the IUCN Red List to 45,395.

The work of the Global Tree Assessment (GTA) continues to be a global effort with species from many different regions and many different taxonomic families included. Highlights from this update include the publication of hundreds of species from Peru, the Guianas, Sri Lankan dipterocarps and species assessed during the Global Tree Assessment Red List workshop in Singapore in 2023.

The update also includes a large number of widespread species from Southeast Asia and South America assessed as Least Concern. However, two species published, Amherstia nobilis (Extinct in the Wild) and Neonauclea kranjiensis (Extinct), are already considered lost from their native ranges. Known as ‘Tree of Heaven’ Amherstia nobilis is widely grown for its flowers but the species has not been recorded in the wild since 1865 and is now believed to exist only in cultivation. Described in 2018 from a preserved specimen, Neonauclea kranjiensis was known from a single site in Singapore that has undergone extensive land conversion. The species represents a ‘dark extinction’: the extinction of a species before it is discovered and named.

The latest IUCN update includes many other plant species and in particular spotlights the effect of illegal trade on copiapoa cacti species endemic to Chile. Assessments undertaken by the Cactus and Succulent Plant Specialist Group have found 82% of species are threatened, up from 55% in 2013. Drought related to climate change and illegal collection, facilitated by social media, have been identified as the major threats. Earlier this year BGCI launched the Illegal Plant Trade Campaign, aiming to use the global reach that botanic gardens have to create an awareness campaign on the illegal trade of plants.

The publication of these assessments moves us closer towards our goal of assessing all trees on the IUCN Red List. This is only the first step in mobilising action for tree species conservation, prioritising the species most in need of conservation action. For example, since 2018, working with the Colombian Plant Specialist Group, the Global Tree Assessment has produced IUCN Red List assessments, and information on conservation gaps and the priorities for tree conservation in Colombia. This has identified more than 700 threatened species and led to a conservation action plan for the threatened trees of Colombia to be implemented in 2030.

The work of the Global Tree Assessment would not be possible without our partners, assessors and reviewers and we thank them for their ongoing work as we continue to submit assessments ahead of the next IUCN Red List update in October 2024.