Kota Kinabalu: About 204 species or 70 percent of endemic trees in Sabah are considered threatened, according to a study.
These threatened trees fall within the categories of Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) and Vulnerable (VU), said a publication named “The Red List of Sabah Endemic Trees” launched during a recent nature conservation conference in Kota Kinabalu, according to a statement.
“Assessments indicate that climate change and severe weather conditions will likely pose a major threat to these threatened species,” said the statement.
“However, the majority of the endemic tree species (66 percent) are considered stable in terms of their population trends.
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The Red List of Sabah Endemic Trees is a compilation of the conservation status assessment of 291 Sabah endemic tree species that have been validly published on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species website from 2018 up to 2022, the statement explained.
This compilation was derived from an initiative by the Sabah Forestry Department together with the Botanical Garden Conservation International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Special Species Commission’s Global Tree Specialist Group, both of which are leading the Global Tree Assessment initiative.
This initiative has contributed to the Global Tree Assessment that aims to assess the world conservation status of trees, of which about 80 percent have been currently assessed.
At the state level, it will provide important information for the formulation of long-term forest management strategies, plant species conservation programmes, and identification of critically high conservation value habitats that require urgent conservation decisions on land use policy to support Sabah’s sustainable development goals.
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