A new report, The Red List of Oaks, has identified 56 oak species that are threatened with extinction.

Download the report 621 Kb

The report is published by Fauna & Flora International and Botanic Gardens Conservation International as part of the Global Trees Campaign and under the auspices of the IUCN-SSC Global Tree Specialist Group. It presents the conservation status, according to IUCN Categories and Criteria, of approximately 200 of the 500 or so species of oak around the world. Of the 56 threatened species, 13 are classified as  Critically Endangered, 16 as Endangered and 27 as Vulnerable.

Oaks are of global importance economically, ecologically and symbolically. They have been a major source of timber and coppice wood for centuries and continue to provide a significant proportion of temperate hardwood production. Other useful products derived from oaks include fuelwood, charcoal, medicinal products, dyes, cork and bark. Acorns have provided food in times of famine and continue to provide animal fodder. Many species of oak are grown ornamentally around the world.

The Red List of Oaks is the result of a collaborative endeavour involving experts worldwide, including small dedicated workshops in Mexico and China (both centres of oak diversity) and national or regional tree red-listing workshops in Guatemala and the Caucusus. Despite this effort, insufficient information was available to allocate an IUCN category to the other 300 known species of oak. Of the 200 species that were assessed, 33 were classified as Data Deficient.

The report provides a very useful baseline for planning conservation action. It also stresses the need for further information collection on the conservation status of this important group of trees. Although incomplete, the report makes a very valuable contribution to the effort to assess the conservation status of the world’s trees, the need for which is recognised in Target 2 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. This strategy, developed under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), calls for a provisional list of threatened plant species to be drawn up.  The Global Trees Campaign, guided by the IUCN-SSC Global Tree Specialist Group, will continue to work towards the development of this list.

Any further information on the status of oak species around the world would be most welcome – please contact [email protected]