Abstract:

The output presented here represents a status report on our knowledge of global vegetation as it stands in 2016, including a synthesis of existing information about vascular plants, new findings emerging from the review process, and an update on current knowledge gaps. The report is in three sections. The first part describes what we currently know about plants: how many plant species there are, new plant discoveries in 2015, our current knowledge on plant evolutionary relationships and plant genomes, the number of useful plants, and the location of the world’s most important plant areas. It also present a country-wide focus on Brazil. The second part of the report assesses our knowledge of global threats to plants. In particular, we review the potential impacts of climate change, land-use change, invasive plants, plant diseases, and extinction risk. The third part details international trade, as well as policies and international agreements that are in place to deal with some of the threats.