Invasives: a major conservation threat

Title: Invasives: a major conservation threat

[IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) Letter, Science, V333, no. 6041, 404-405] -- A flurry of recent articles call upon the conservation community to embrace invasive species. Davis and coauthors propose downsizing the struggle against invasives (1). In the News Focus story “Embracing invasives” (18 March, p. 1383), G. Vince suggests that the Galápagos “embrace the aliens.” In The New York Times (2), H. Raffles accused environmentalists, conservationists, and gardeners targeting invasive species of being unreasoningly dogmatic and xenophobic.

These articles imply that the concern with invasive species derives from the unreasonable desire to maintain pristine ecosystems and exclude all alien species. In fact, conservationists recognize that species distributions are constantly changing, that community structure is dynamic, that alien species enter and are introduced into natural communities, and that modified (and even degraded) ecosystems have conservation value. However, we also recognize an important distinction between alien species in general— which are introduced outside their natural range by humans, but which in many cases are harmless- and invasive species, which by definition not only are introduced outside their range but also cause substantial harm to biodiversity and human livelihood. Invasive species, not alien species, are indeed a major cause of biodiversity loss, implicated in the majority of extinctions (3), and this trend continues. Thus, they deserve aggressive intervention.

As leaders of conservation organizations with missions to protect biodiversity, we believe that the endorsement of invading species— although potentially stimulating from an academic perspective risks trivializing the global action that is needed to address one of the most severe and fastest growing threats to biological diversity. As recently noted by many leading scientists (4–8), as well as by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (9), practitioners combating invasive species use a suite of strategies to prevent the arrival of invasives and to mitigate their impacts after arrival. Our organizations have promoted biosecurity programs, implemented dozens of campaigns for invasive species removal, and supported hundreds of the more than 1000 eradications so far completed, recovering ecosystems and preventing many extinctions worldwide, especially on islands. These successes demonstrate clearly that threats from invasive species can be mitigated and that biodiversity can be protected through these actions. Tackling invasives also addresses the economic damage they cause and the serious threats they pose to human communities, for example, through reducing access to food and water or spreading diseases. At the Convention for Biological Diversity meeting in Nagoya, Japan, in October 2010, 193 countries adopted a historic Strategic Plan for Biodiversity for 2011–2020, setting a target to prevent, control, and eradicate the most harmful invasive species by 2020. Our organizations will be in the front line to achieve this target, and we encourage countries and communities to support and contribute to this effort.

Now more than ever, academics should be supporting action against invasive species, identifying tomorrow’s most damaging invaders to enhance prevention, and working actively to develop innovative tools to control, eradicate, or mitigate the impacts of the most harmful invaders.

Marco Lambertini, 1; Jim Leape, 2; Julia Marton-Lefevre, 3; Russell A. Mittermeier, 4; Mark Rose, 5; John G. Robinson, 6; Simon N. Stuart, 7; Bill Waldman, 8; Piero Genovesi 9*

*(1) Director and CEO, BirdLife International, Cambridge CB3 0NA, UK. (2) Director General, WWF International, Gland, 1196, Switzerland. (3) Director General, IUCN, Gland, 1196, Switzerland. 4President, Conservation International, Arlington, VA 22202–3787, USA. (5) CEO, Fauna and Flora International, Cambridge CB1 2JD, UK. (6) Executive Vice President for Conservation and Science, Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, NY 10460, USA. (7) Chair, IUCN Species Survival Commission, The Innovation Centre, University of Bath, Bath BA1 1UD, UK. (8) Executive Director, Island Conservation, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA. (9) Chair, IUCN Species Survival Commission, Invasive Species Specialist Group, Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, Rome, Italy.

From http://www.issg.org, see original source.

Article: WeedsNews1909 (permalink)
Date: 23 July 2011; 8:22:06 PM AEST

Author Name: David Low
Author ID: adminDavid