Third of tropical African plant species at risk of extinction

A third of plant species in tropical Africa are threatened with extinction, according to a new preliminary study by Science Advances, a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary open-access scientific journal.

The study published on Wednesday, highlighted trees, shrub, herbs, and liana as the species at risk to industrial-scale activities such as timber exploitation or large plantations, agriculture and mining.

Using a novel approach aligned with International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List criteria, Science Advances conducted a continental-scale preliminary conservation assessment of 22,036 vascular plant species in tropical Africa.

It was the first-ever evaluation of the potential conservation status of an entire flora on a continental scale using key criteria used for International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List assessments.

The scientists' results suggested that around one-third translating to 31.7 percent of tropical African vascular plant species are potentially or likely threatened by extinction. They classified 17.3 percent of the plant species as likely to be threatened and 14.4 percent as potentially threatened.

West Africa, Ethiopia, central Tanzania, and southern Democratic Republic of the Congo were highlighted with a high proportion of potentially threatened species, standing at 40 percent.

Eight of the top 10 countries with the highest proportion of threatened species are found in West Africa, underlining the high concentration of threatened plant species found in the region.

West Africa encompasses several ecoregions with high proportions of threatened species, ranging from 39.2 to 64.9 percent. They include the Inner Niger Delta savanna, Sahelian Acacia savanna, Guinean mangroves, Western Guinean lowland forest, and Guinean montane forests.

Apart from the west African countries, Ethiopia and Uganda also have high proportion of threatened species.