Extinction risk to almost half of all flowering plant species

NEARLY half of flowering plants could be at risk of extinction because of habitat loss, scientists have warned.

- Steph Spyro

Conservation analyst Dr Matilda Brown claimed climate change was "certainly on the horizon" but it was much harder to measure it as a threat.

She said: "We are looking at over 100,000 species that are threatened that is more than the total number of species of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, all of our vertebrates put together.

"And when we consider that nine out of 10 of our medicines come from plants, what we are potentially staring down the barrel of is losing up to half of all future medicines.

Impacts

"So this isn't just a big number if you're a plant. It's a big number in terms of potential impacts for humanity."

The main likely causes of these extinctions are deforestation or the construction of dams that flood river areas upstream.