In the Media
World’s ten most threatened forests listed at launch of a special year
February 02, 2011
People & Planet
To mark the launch today of the the International Year of Forests, the US-based Conservation International has listed the ten most at-risk forested hotspots around the world.
1 – Indo-Burma
2 – New Zealand
3 – Sundaland
4 – Philippines
5 – Atlantic Forest
6 – Mountains of Southwest China
7 – California Floristic Province
8 – Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa
9 – Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands
10 – Eastern Afromontane
The aim is to focus attention on the need to increase the protection of forests, including their crucial importance for biodiversity conservation, climate stabilisation and economic development. The listed forests have all lost 90 per cent or more of their original habitat and each harbours at least 1500 endemic plant species – species found nowhere else in the world. If these forests are lost, says Conservation International, those endemic species are also lost forever.
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Keywords: Asia, China, International Year of Forests, Myanmar, Philippines