COLOMBIA - Trees Slide Toward Extinction
Scientists assessing dangers posed to the world’s trees have revealed that more than a third of species are facing extinction in the wild.
The news was released in Cali, Colombia, where world leaders are meeting at the UN biodiversity summit, COP 16, to assess progress on a landmark rescue plan for nature.
Trees are vital for life, helping to clean the air and soak up carbon emissions, as well as providing homes for thousands of birds, insects and mammals.
More than 1,000 scientists took part in the assessment of the conservation status of trees, compiled by the plant conservation charity, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Trees are at risk in 192 countries, with clearing land for farming and logging the biggest threat and, in temperate regions, pests and diseases.
Conservation researcher Steven Bachman said the figures were “shocking,” with a knock-on effect for the many other plants and animals that depend on trees.
“We are currently in a biodiversity crisis,” he said. “Many species of trees all around the world are providing habitat for many other species of birds, mammals, insects, fungi.”
-www.bbc.com, 28 October 2024
Arno's Commentary
While we respect true science, we must also call attention to the continued failure of scientific prognosticators. Previous predictions were overpopulation, global cooling, ozone depletion, global warming, and hundreds of other seemingly important, threatening catastrophes for planet earth. Now, the presumed extinction of trees is highlighted.
Trees are important, and so is grass and the many products grown by farmers the world over. The assembly of over a thousand scientists from around the world is in a state of shock. “We are currently in a biodiversity crisis,” they say.
The Bible speaks much of trees, and documents that they are created by the Creator. Trees don’t grow in the desert, and they don’t grow in swamps. Why? Because of the lack of water in the former case, and the overabundance of water-saturated topsoil in the latter.
Research reveals, “On average, it takes about 100 years to produce one inch of topsoil.” That scientific fact does not agree with the evolution theory. An example: Take a forest anywhere in the world on level ground, and you will find between 2 to 3 feet of topsoil. If the world’s age is millions, even billions, of years old, then no tree would be able to grow because the topsoil would be hundreds, even thousands, of feet deep. In most cases, when one digs a hole, it adds up to about 6,000 years.
In summary, age deteriorates and does not renew, renovate, restore, or rejuvenate. That applies to plants, animals, even rocks and stones.
Something out of this world is going to happen one day, according to Scripture: Time will be no more, and the sea will cease to exist. Here are the first two verses in Revelation 22: “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
