Published in 2017, ‘GlobalTreeSearch’ is the first database of its kind, documenting all of the world’s known tree species and their country level distributions. The database is the result of over two years of work to gather both tree species names and their country level distributions. GlobalTreeSearch revealed that there are approximately sixty thousand known tree species. Nearly half of all tree species (45%) are found in just 10 families, with the 3 most tree-rich families being Leguminosae, Rubiaceae, and Myrtaceae.

GlobalTreeSearch is not a static database and evolves as new information comes to light. The database is now used as a tool for monitoring and managing tree species diversity, forests and carbon stocks on a global, regional or national level. It is used as the basis of the Global Tree Assessment, coordinated by BGCI and the IUCN/SSC Global Tree Specialist Group (GTSG), which aims to undertake conservation assessments for all of the world’s tree species by 2020. GlobalTreeSearch enables a gap analysis to be performed, to identify where conservation assessments are lacking.