[Invasive-species] Survey reveals widespread backing for EU action on invasive alien species

[Etienne Branquart]

Dear all,

As you know, the Commission recently held a public consultation on Invasive
Alien Species (IAS) and the problems they cause for biodiversity and nature
across the EU. The consultation ran from March until May, attracted 880
replies, three quarters of them from individuals. Some 91% of respondents
agreed on the urgent need to bring in new measures to prevent the spread of
such organisms, with 85% agreeing on the importance of preventing the
introduction of IAS in the wild. An EU-wide early warning system would be
welcomed by 90% of respondents, and 86% thought that Member States should be
legally obliged to take action against the most harmful IAS. Most
respondents (90%) considered that the lack of public awareness would
constitute a barrier to launching more stringent policies, and that it was
therefore important to raise the profile of the issue (77%). Invasive alien
species are non-indigenous species (plants and animals) which disrupt
ecosystems and pose a serious threat to biodiversity, and their eradication
costs European taxpayers millions of euros each year (see e.g. the IEEP
report attached to this email). Scientific evidence has found them to be a
rapidly growing problem in Europe.

The results of the consultation will now be used to help develop EU policy
in this area, and inform the Communication from the Commission to be
presented at the end of this year.

You can access detailed results of this public consultation at:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/invasivealien/docs/results_consult.pdf

See also: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/invasivealien/index_en.htm

Cheers,

Etienne

PS: Please feel free to circulate any other interesting information on
biological invasions on this list, including information on new relevant
scientific publications, workshops and conferences, etc.
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