IPBES Invasive Alien Species Assessment

The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has released its new publication – the “Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control’’.

Table of Contents

Context: The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has released its new publication – the “Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control’’.

About IPBES

It is an independent intergovernmental body established by States.
- It was established in Panama City in April 2012 by 94 Governments.
It aims to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development.
It is not a United Nations body. However, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) provides secretariat services to IPBES.
HQ – Bonn, Germany
IPBES has produced several influential assessment reports, including the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in 2019.

Key Observations of the Report

Introduction of Alien Species:
- There are 37,000 alien species, including plants and animals, that have been introduced by many human activities to regions and biomes around the world.
- Of the 37,000 introduced alien species, more than 3,500 out pose major global threats to nature, economy, food security and human health.
Invasive Alien Species and Bio-diversity loss:
- Invasive alien species (IAS) play a key role in 60% of global plant and animal extinctions, and cost humanity more than $400 billion a year.
- These species are one of the five major direct drivers of biodiversity loss
  - The other four are land and sea use change, direct exploitation of organisms, climate change, and pollution.
- Most negative impacts are reported on land (about 75%) – especially in forests, woodlands and cultivated areas – with considerably fewer reported in freshwater (14%) and marine (10%) habitats.
- Invasive alien species are most damaging on islands, with numbers of alien plants now exceeding the number of native plants on more than 25% of all islands.
Unprecedented increase in number of alien species:
- The alien species has been rising continuously for centuries in all regions.
- However, these are now increasing at unprecedented rates, with increased human travel, trade and the expansion of the global economy.
- The report warned that warming temperatures and climate change could favour the “expansion of invasive species’’.
Examples of invasive alien species
- The water hyacinth is the world’s most widespread invasive alien species on land.
- Lantana, a flowering shrub, and the black rat are the second and third most widespread globally.
- The brown rat and the house mouse are also widespread invasive alien species.
The global economic cost of invasive alien species
- The report said that the annual costs of invasive alien species have at least quadrupled every decade since 1970, as global trade and human travel increased.
- In 2019, the global economic cost of invasive alien species exceeded $423 billion annually.
Not all alien invasive species have negative impacts
- Not all alien species establish and spread with negative impacts on biodiversity, local ecosystems and species, but a significant proportion do – then becoming known as invasive alien species.
- About 6% of alien plants; 22% of alien invertebrates; 14% of alien vertebrates; and 11% of alien microbes are known to be invasive, posing major risks to nature and to people.
- Nearly 80% of the documented impacts of invasive species on nature’s contribution to people are negative.
Other impacts of invasive alien species
- The reduction of food supply, has been cited by the report as the most common impact of alien invasive species.
- For example,
  - the European shore crab impacting commercial shellfish beds in New England.
  - the Caribbean false mussel damaging locally important fishery resources in Kerala, by wiping out native clams and oysters.
  - The Caribbean false mussel was originally from the Atlantic and Pacific coast of South and Central America, but are believed to have travelled to India via ships.
- Invasive alien species like Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegyptii spread diseases such as malaria, Zika and West Nile Fever.
- Others also have an impact on livelihood such as the water hyacinth in Lake Victoria in East Africa led to the depletion of tilapia, impacting local fisheries.
- Invasive alien species can also amplify the impacts of climate change.
  - For example, invasive alien plants, especially trees and grasses, can sometimes be highly flammable and promote more intense fires.
Response of countries
- Most countries (80%) have included targets related to managing invasive alien species in their national biodiversity plans.
- Only 17% specifically address the issue in national legislation. Nearly half of all countries (45%) do not invest in management of biological invasions.
- In December 2022, governments agreed to reduce the rate of introduction and establishment of invasive alien species by at least 50% by 2030 under target 6 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

KUNMING-MONTREAL GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY FRAMEWORK

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) is an outcome of the 2022 United Nations Biodiversity Conference.
The GBF was adopted by the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on 19 December 2022.
- CBD is a legally binding treaty to conserve biodiversity that has been in force since 1993 and has been ratified by 196 nations.
- It sets out guidelines for countries to protect biodiversity, ensure sustainable use, and promote fair and equitable benefit sharing.
GBF has been promoted as a “Paris Agreement for Nature”.

Goals

The GBF contains 4 Global Goals (“Kunming-Montreal Global Goals for 2050”) and 23 targets (“Kunming-Montreal 2030 Global Targets”).

Key Targets:

30×30 Deal:
- Restore 30% degraded ecosystems globally (on land and sea) by 2030
- Conserve and manage 30% areas (terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine) by 2030
Stop the extinction of known species, and by 2050 reduce tenfold the extinction risk and rate of all species (including unknown)
Reduce risk from pesticides by at least 50% by 2030
Reduce nutrients lost to the environment by at least 50% by 2030
Reduce pollution risks and negative impacts of pollution from all sources by 2030 to levels that are not harmful to biodiversity and ecosystem functions.
Reduce global footprint of consumption by 2030, including through significantly reducing overconsumption and waste generation and halving food waste.
Sustainably manage areas under agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries, and forestry and substantially increase agroecology and other biodiversity-friendly practices.
Tackle climate change through nature-based solutions
Reduce the rate of introduction and establishment of invasive alien species by at least 50% by 2030.
Secure the safe, legal and sustainable use and trade of wild species by 2030.
Green up urban spaces