How Africa should tackle invasive alien species

Invasive alien species are a serious threat to the planet, writes Julie Coetzee, a researcher at Rhodes University. In this article, she highlights four key messages for Africa in this regard.

-  Julie Coetzee

"Climate change has negatively – and irreversibly, in some cases – affected ecosystems around the globe. Sadly, though, it is not the only phenomenon that’s altering our natural world.

In 2019, the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Global Assessment Report confirmed invasive alien species as one of the five most important direct drivers of biodiversity loss. The others were climate change, land and sea use, direct exploitation of species, and pollution.

Established in 2012, has 144 member countries. Its major objective is to strengthen the interface between science and policy to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity.

The 2019 assessment found that more than 37 000 alien species had been introduced by many human activities to regions and biomes around the world, most in the past 100 years. A new report by the organisation, focused on alien invasive species, suggests this number is rising fast, with new alien species being recorded at an unprecedented rate of about 200 annually. It also reveals that the global economic cost of invasive alien species exceeded US$423 billion (about R8 057bn) annually. Costs have at least quadrupled every decade since 1970.

But the new report doesn’t just concentrate on problems; it outlines key responses and policy options that governments may take for prevention, early detection and effective control of invasive alien species. Doing so will help to safeguard nature and its contributions to people. This will ensure a better quality of life for all.

I am an invasion biologist whose research focuses on the ecology and management of invasive aquatic plants. Here, I elaborate on the four key messages highlighted by the report that African countries should heed if the continent is to successfully tackle the threats posed by invasive species.