BIOPLAN POSTING 2001-5-6
BIOPLAN POSTING 2001-5-6
Patricia.Jacobs@unep.org
Sent by: owner-unepgigiri@unep.org
05/21/01 05:38 PM
UN celebrates International Day for Biological Diversity
by highlighting threat of invasive alien species
Montreal/Nairobi, 22 May 2001 – The world’s rich and irreplaceable
biological heritage is under attack on many fronts, from land
clearance, over-hunting and over-harvesting, pollution – and
the spread of invasive alien species.
“Invasive alien species are thought to be the biggest threat
to
biological diversity after habitat destruction,” said Klaus Toepfer,
Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme.
“The dramatic growth in tourism and trade is offering these
unwanted visitors more and more opportunities to travel hundreds
or thousands of kilometres beyond their natural habitat via boat or
aircraft. Some thrive in their new homes – but at great cost to
native species and ecosystems, and at a cost of billions of dollars
to local economies,” he said.
Invaders can compete with native plants and animals, displace
them, consume them, act as parasites or transmit diseases,
reduce growth and survival rates, cause the decline or extinction of
local populations or even entire species, and uproot or damage
plants.
“While alien species are an age-old problem, we are only
now
starting to fully appreciate the havoc they cause,” said Hamdallah
Zedan, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological
Diversity, which was adopted in 1992 under UNEP auspices.
“If we are to succeed in stemming the tide of invasives,
we will
need more scientific work and more awareness-raising. Only when
people fully realize what is happening and what is at stake can
we begin to reverse the destruction.”
Under the Convention, governments are working together to take
more aggressive measures to prevent alien species from invading in
the first place. If this fails, complete removal may still be feasible
very early in an invasion. Where eradication is not feasible or cost-
effective, containment and long-term control measures will need to
be considered.
But governments cannot do it alone. Businesses and individuals
have a vital role to play. Tourists must take the responsibility for
obeying all customs rules – even a piece of fruit in hand luggage
can carry invading insects or micro-organisms – and owners of
exotic pets or plants must take care to keep them contained.
Businesses involved in timber, agriculture, shipping, and similar
trades need to rigorously respect safety measures for minimizing
the transport of invasive alien species.
There are thousands of examples of invasive alien species. Here
are just a few:
* Introduced fish can eliminate native species and reduce
biodiversity. It has been estimated that 20% of all freshwater fish
species are at risk of becoming extinct in the near future unless
the present situation is reversed.
* Invasive plant species cover an estimated 100 million
acres in
the US and are spreading annually across three million additional
acres, an area twice the size of Delaware. US farmers spend
billions of dollars every year on pesticides to destroy invasive
plants and weeds.
* The Hibiscus mealybug, Maconellicoccus hirsutus, has
invaded the Caribbean and is attacking a range of plants, including
fruit and forestry trees.
* The corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera, was accidentally
introduced into the Balkans in the late 1990s during the conflict
there; this pest is now spreading and threatening the region’s
maize production.
* The invasive sea lamprey has caused trout and other fish
stocks in the Great Lakes to collapse.
Canada and the US spend $13 million a year attempting to control
this pest.
* $4.5 million is devoted annually to implement a
comprehensive interagency program to prevent the spread of the
brown tree snake and control this pest on Guam.
* The Weed Science Society of America recognizes about
1,200 plant species as weeds in Canada and the US. Of these,
about 65% in the US are non-natives.
* In the Galapagos Islands – a World Heritage Site that
is
renowned as a natural showcase of evolution – the number of
introduced plants is almost as high as the number of natives due to
introduced mammalian predators and herbivores as well as insects
and plants.
* In the Eurasian part of the Arctic, the alien Racoon
dog,
Nyctereutes procyonoides, is multiplying and consuming large
numbers of various small mammals. It is also spreading rabies.
* Prosopis (Mesquite) in the Thar desert of India has displaced
other flora of the area, while the specie introduced to a semi-arid
area Sri Lanka in the early 1950s, has become an invasive
seriously threatening the biodiversity of the only Ramsar-listed
wetland of the country.
Note to journalists: For more information, contact:
Michael
Williams at +41-22-917-8242; fax: +41-22-797-3464; email:
mwilliams@unep.ch. In Nairobi, please contact: Tore J.
Brevik:
UNEP Spokesman/Director of Communications and Public
Information, tel: 254-2 623292; fax: 623692; email
cpiinfo@unep.org. Extensive information on alien invasive species
is available
from the Convention on Biological Diversity, (www.biodiv.org), the
Global Invasive Species Programme
(jasper.Stanford.edu/GISP/) and the World Conservation Union
(www.iucn.org).
UNEP News Release 01/55
For information only. Not an official record.
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