Control of invasive species
National Action Plan
From 2006-2008 the Swedish Species Information Centre was one of the partners in a government assignment for a National Strategy and Action Plan on Alien Species and Genotypes. The work was presented in a report from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, but none of the proposals have as yet been implemented (March 2010). The issue of invasive alien species is also important from a European perspective. In 2004, the European Commission published a proposal the European Strategy on Invasive Alien Species that was discussed in the EU without any definite decisions as yet being taken.
How are the problems reduced?
In order to effectively prevent invasive alien species becoming established in the country, work must be carried out in several steps:
Prevention
The most important and cost-effective method is to prevent spreading and establishment. International work continues to prevent and limit spreading from ballast water. The principle of free movement of goods and services within the EU makes it difficult to effectively limit the trade and transport of plants and animals. Only a small number of internationally accepted pests have been effectively limited.
Rapid detection, rapid action
In cases where species succeed in becoming established in new areas it is important that they are detected as rapidly as possible so that an effective action can be taken at the earliest possible stage.
It is already possible to report sightings of alien species in Sweden at the Species Gateway managed by the Swedish Species Information Centre. The Species Gateway can thereby work as a basis for an effective warning and reporting system (Early Warning System) for alien species.
One example of how a warning system could work is the case of the strong invasive American species ruddy duck, Oxyura jamaicensis, which through extensive hybridisation was found to be a threat to the European white-headed duck, Oxyura leucocephala. Through international agreements Sweden is under obligation to control the American ruddy duck and the Swedish Species Information Centre has an agreement currently with the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management to convey information about the prevalence of the species so that they can be controlled.
Limit and control
In cases where there is no time to implement rapid actions against an invasive alien species that has become established, it is important to minimize damage. This is the most expensive step in the work against invasive alien species and therefore everything should be done to prevent this situation arising. In many cases invasive alien species have become so widespread and established in Swedish nature that their presence must simply be accepted. The Canada golden-rod and the policeman’s helmet outcompete the native flora along roadsides and watercourses and the rapid spreading of the signal crayfish has already led to the near disappearance of the European crayfish from southern parts of Sweden. The proliferation of the Spanish slug is having major effects on the Swedish agriculture and horticultural industries.
Alien species, a gigantic global problem
Invasive alien species are currently considered to be one of the greatest threats to biodiversity at the global level. The cost of invasive alien species in Sweden has recently been estimated to be 1.1 – 4.5 billion SEK per year. In the EU the cost has been estimated to be 9.6 billion Euros per year and in the USA the costs for damage and control are estimated to be in the order of 100 billion USD per year.
NOBANIS – website on invasive alien species in North and Central Europe
The Swedish Species Information Centre has on a mandate from the Swedish EPA developed a website for Nobanis, the European Network on Invasive Alien Species. The work has attracted much attention and many countries have expressed interest in becoming members. Nobanis is a website with information about invasive alien species in Northern and Central Europe. The website is continuously updated by representatives of participating countries (in Sweden by staff at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency).
DAISIE – information on the Internet about alien species in Europe
Most information about alien species is collected through a large EU financed project on the website Daisie (Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe information). The database has information on circa 11 000 alien species that have been sighted at some time in Europe. The website stopped compiling and maintaining information when the project was ended in 2008.