A Samburu woman works removing some plants of the invasive species Opuntia to control their spread in Naibunga Upper Conservancy, Laikipia County, Kenya. Credit: LUIS TATO/AFP via Getty Images
The effective control of alien plant invasion in Sub-Saharan Africa requires strategies that prioritize conservation, target well defined priority sites, and a clear monitoring plan, a South African study, published in the journal Biological Conservation finds.
Brian van Wilgen, the study’s lead author, from the Centre for Invasion Biology at Stellenbosch University and colleagues, reviewed the cost and the effectiveness of South Africa’s largest government-funded Working for Water (WFW) initiative for controlling invasive species implemented between 1998 and 2020. The team reports that more than a quarter of control interventions, targeting more than 178 alien species in the country, were not in priority areas for biodiversity and water conservation, limiting their effectiveness.
Although the WFW initiative made commendable progress in controlling alien invasive species in South Africa, the mismatch between the project’s vision and the reality was partly because of insufficient funds and lack of clearly set goals and structural issues.
“We will never have enough money to control alien plant invasions everywhere, so we need to look into the options for biological control,” Wilgen told Nature Africa. He calls for setting realistic goals for priority areas.
