Abstract
Although invasive alien species have long been recognized as a major threat to nature and people, until now there has been no comprehensive global review of the status, trends, drivers, impacts, management and governance challenges of biological invasions. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Thematic Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and Their Control (hereafter ‘IPBES invasive alien species assessment’) drew on more than 13,000 scientific publications and reports in 15 languages as well as Indigenous and local knowledge on all taxa, ecosystems and regions across the globe. Therefore, it provides unequivocal evidence of the major and growing threat of invasive alien species alongside ambitious but realistic approaches to manage biological invasions. The extent of the threat and impacts has been recognized by the 143 member states of IPBES who approved the summary for policymakers of this assessment. Here, the authors of the IPBES assessment outline the main findings of the IPBES invasive alien species assessment and highlight the urgency to act now.
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Acknowledgements
We are indebted to the many contributing authors, to the members of the IPBES Bureau and Multidisciplinary Expert Panel who were part of the assessment’s management committee and to the external reviewers who generously provided their expertise through the assessment. The assistance, guidance and leadership from the IPBES Secretariat and the assessment’s technical support unit have been invaluable. We thank our host organizations for their ongoing support and encouragement. H.E.R. acknowledges support from the Natural Environment Research Council as part of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology national and public good programme delivering national capability NE/R016062/1. A.P. acknowledges support for the research of this work from ANID/BASAL FB210006. S.B. acknowledges support for the research of this work from the Swiss National Science Foundation (grants 31003A_179491 and 31BD30_184114). E.S. acknowledges support for the research of this work from CONICET (PIP 11220210100507CO). H. Seebens acknowledges support for the research of this work from BMBF (grant 16LC1807A). V.V. acknowledges support for the research of this work from The Norwegian Environmental Agency. C.B. acknowledges support for the research of this work from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (grant 2022R1A2C1003504). M.L.C., P.P. and J.P. acknowledge support from a long-term research development project (RVO 67985939; Czech Academy of Science). F.C. acknowledges support for the research of this work from Foundation BNP Paribas Climate Initiative 2014 and the AXA Research Fund University Paris Saclay Chair of Invasions Biology. R.D.Z. acknowledges support for the research of this work from CNPq-Brazil (grant 302643/2022-2). C.H. acknowledges support for the research of this work from the National Research Foundation of South Africa (grant 89967). C.L.M. acknowledges support for the research of this work from SURPASS2 (NE/S011870/1 and CONICET, Argentina RD 1984/19) and MBZ Species Conservation Grant (210527048). P.P. acknowledges support for the research of this work from Czech Science Foundation (19-28807X). E.T. acknowledges support for the research of this work from the National Biodiversity Future Center (project CN00000033). J.V. acknowledges support for the research of this work from FCT (https://doi.org/10.54499/DL57/2016/CP1440/CP1646/CT0025). M.V. acknowledges support for the research of this work from the Spanish State Research Agency (PCI2018-092939). J.R.U.W. acknowledges support for the research of this work from the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.
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This Perspective is based on the IPBES Thematic Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control, which was led by three co-chairs: H.E.R., A.P. and P.J.S. with major contributions from all other authors. H.E.R. led the manuscript with L.A.M., T.R.T., A.P. and P.S. providing substantive comments on structure and content. S.B., B.S.G., P.E.H., T.I., S. Kavileveettil, M.A.M., M.A.N., S.J.R., E.S., H. Seebens, A.W.S. and V.V. all provided further edits. All authors provided input through their contributions to the IPBES invasive alien species assessment and additional suggestions on the content of the paper.
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Nature Ecology & Evolution thanks Jenica Allen, Rachael V. Gallagher, Federico Holm and Rebecca Rooney for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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Roy, H.E., Pauchard, A., Stoett, P.J. et al. Curbing the major and growing threats from invasive alien species is urgent and achievable. Nat Ecol Evol 8, 1216–1223 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02412-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02412-w
