News published: 18 June 2025

Research published today by BGCI and Global Tree Assessment collaborators in Plants, People, Planet reveals that nearly half of tree species found only in Mesoamerica are threatened by extinction.

More than 4,000 tree species are found only in Mesoamerica (from Mexico to Panama). As part of the Global Tree Assessment project, a meeting held in La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica, in March 2019, brought together experts from across the region to participate in IUCN Red List training and begin the assessment process. Before 2019, only 20% of Mesoamerican tree species had a published assessment on the IUCN Red List.

Over the last 6 years, the co-authors compiled assessments for each species, collating information about species’ ranges, habitats, threats, and conservation actions. These are now published on the IUCN Red List.

The results show that 46% of trees endemic to Mesoamerica are at risk of extinction, with the main drivers of those declines identified as agriculture and logging. Most threatened tree species currently lack targeted conservation actions that might help protect them from extinction.

“With this collaborative effort to assess the conservation status of tree species in Mesoamerica, we can now prioritise conservation actions for the region’s most threatened trees. Now it is possible to pinpoint on a country level, which species are most at risk, what threatens them, and what conservation actions are already in place. We hope this will inspire further conservation work to prevent tree extinctions” says corresponding author Emily Beech, of Botanic Gardens Conservation International.