AS APPLES BLOSSOM IN THE UK THEIR WILD ANCESTORS FACE EXTINCTION
Date: 07/05/2009

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Several of the world’s fruit and nut trees, wild ancestors of the fruits we eat today, are seriously threatened with extinction, a new ‘Red List’ released by tree experts warns today.

Many of these species occur in the unique fruit and nut forests of Central Asia – an estimated 90% of whichhave been destroyed in the past 50 years.

The Red List of Trees of Central Asia identifies 44 tree species in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan as globally threatened with extinction. The region is home to over 300 wild fruit and nut species, including wild apple, plum, cherry, apricot, walnut and many other important food trees from which domesticated varieties are thought to originate.

Owing to the often fragmented, mountainous geography of the landscape, these plants display exceptionally high genetic diversity, which could prove vital in the development of new disease-resistant or climate-tolerant fruit varieties. This could be of huge importance to future food security as the global climate changes. The fruit and nut forests have been described as a biological Eden, and have long held an important role in human culture.

It is believed that many of the fruit and nut trees familiar in cultivation today were domesticated from these forests, and were then distributed by people along the Silk Road long ago. For example, domestic apples are now known to be derived from the wild species Malus sieversii, which is native to Central Asia and is identified as threatened in the report.

The Red List of Trees of Central Asia was compiled by international scientists and published by Fauna & Flora International in collaboration with Botanic Gardens Conservation International as part of the Global Trees Campaign. It identifies over-exploitation, human development, pests and diseases, overgrazing, desertification and fires as the main threats to the trees and forests in the region. Lack of financial resources and infrastructure since the break-up of the Soviet Union has also had a negative impact on the forests of the region.

Dr Antonia Eastwood, lead author of The Red List of Trees of Central Asia, said: “Central Asia’s forests are a vital storehouse for wild fruit and nut trees. If we lose the genetic diversity these forests contain, the future security of these foods could be jeopardized, especially in the face of unknown changes in global climate.”

Fauna & Flora International (FFI) is already working in Kyrgyzstan to save and restore one of the most highly threatened apple species identified in the report, the Niedzwetzky apple (or Malus niedzwetzkyana), as part of the Global Trees Campaign. FFI is also working with local communities and government forest services in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to encourage sustainable use and more effective protection for forest resources, including providing training for community groups and grants for eco-friendly small businesses to assist local livelihoods.

To build on this work, a new collaborative project is being launched in Kyrgyzstan this year, led by Prof. Adrian Newton of Bournemouth University, UK (a co-author of The Red List of Trees in Central Asia) and involving Fauna & Flora International, Botanic Gardens Conservation International and several institutions in Kyrgyzstan. With funding from the UK Government’s Darwin Initiative, the project will conduct research on threatened trees, provide training to Kyrgyz scientists and involve local communities in forest use planning.

Prof. Newton said: “In a year when we are celebrating the anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, it is a great privilege to have the opportunity to help conserve these forests, which have been of such evolutionary importance. Given their extraordinary role in human history and culture, it is hard to think of any native forests more worthy of conservation. We very much look forward to working with colleagues, both in the UK and in Kyrgyzstan, to help prevent extinction of these wild fruit and nut tree species”.

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