Madagascar has a documented 2,900 endemic species of trees, but a new report shows that almost two-thirds of them are in danger of disappearing.
Of the 3,118 species covered, more than 90% had never been systematically evaluated before, and one in 10 fell in the IUCN’s critically endangered category, a step away from going extinct in the wild.
Though the island nation’s protected area network has expanded to more than 7 million hectares (17 million acres), a tenth of the tree species are found outside this safety net.
Scientists are racing against the extinction clock to document this mind-boggling biodiversity and determine just how imperiled individual species are.
‘Forgotten’ coffee species could help to futureproof the coffee industry under climate change
19/04/2021 - Press release
Scientists reveal that
Coffea stenophylla – a rare and threatened species from West Africa – has the potential to ensure the future of great-tasting coffee under climate change. The coffee, rediscovered in the wild in 2018 after years of searching, has the unique combination of tolerance to high temperatures and a superior flavour – throwing a lifeline to the multibillion dollar coffee industry, which is vulnerable to climate change. Results from an independent, professional tasting with panellists from Nespresso & Jacobs Douwe Egbert (JDE), show that the flavour of stenophylla is like high-end Arabica (Arabica is the world’s most popular coffee).