The vast diversity of the world's plant life is currently disappearing at a faster rate than new species are being discovered and recorded. In the United States, more species of plants are in danger of becoming extinct than the combined number of species of birds, fish, mammals, insects, and other creatures considered endangered. Although environmental changes like increased industrialization pose the greatest risk to wild flora, certain types of plants need their wild stocks protected from the world's market demand for them.
Many plants have substantial commercial value as collectors' items or are popular as decoration.
Others, such as trees, are desirable for the products made from them. Certain plants are even traded for their medicinal value. Unfortunately, the wanton collection of valuable plants from their natural habitats has compromised many wild plant populations. Mahogany and rosewood trees, American ginseng, Mexican living rocks, saguaro cacti, pitcher plants, Madonna lilies, bread palm cycads, Texas wild-rice, and ladyslipper orchids are all examples of plant species that have become endangered in this century because commercial trade practices have depleted their wild stocks. Initiated by the United States in 1977, this international agreement regulates the commercial trade of endangered species and monitors the trade of species that are at risk of becoming endangered.