First State of the World's Plants Report Launched

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has released the first annual report on the State of the World's Plants, a baseline assessment of current knowledge on the diversity of plants on earth, the global threats these plants currently face, as well as the policies in place and their effectiveness in dealing with threats.

The status of plants included in the report is based on the most updated knowledge from around the world as of 2016 and is divided into three sections: describing the world's plants, global threats to plants, and policies and international trade.

The report's first section focuses on plant diversity on earth, noting that there are now 391,000 vascular plants known to science, of which 369,000 are flowering plants. The report also collates data indicating at least 31,000 plant species have documented use for medicines, food, and materials. The report also identifies the focus of collection efforts to include plant species of critical importance to global food security, and wild relatives of crops.

For more details, read the news release at the Kew Gardens website.