March 2017
Preventing the establishment of invasive non-native species has additional benefits which simply cannot be monetised but are nevertheless substantial. Our wildlife is currently under pressure from numerous fronts and competition from invasive species can be the last straw for wildlife weakened by development, pollution or loss of habitat. Invasive non-native species have a significant negative impact on our wildlife, often out-competing native species or spreading disease, often with no predators of their own they can change entire ecosystems.
Take floating pennywort, Hydrocotyl ranunculoides, for example, established in the UK in the 1980s from North America through the aquatic plant trade. It causes huge problems for our aquatic environment including competing with native plant species for nutrients and light, it alters the ecosystem impacting on oxygen levels, light levels, and flow. Not only does it have a significant impact on the environment, it has substantial cost implications for angling, recreation and navigation and can lead to localised flooding. In 2010 removal costs were estimated at £1800-£2000 per kilometre. A recent estimate for the whole country for the control, management and disposal of H. ranunculoides was £1.93 million in 2008 (Newman, quoted in EPPO 2010). In six years, these costs had increased seven fold. It is estimated that total annual costs of floating pennywort in Great Britain (2010) are £25,467,000.
Despite such staggering costs, the horticulture and ornamental plant trade remain an open pathway for the spread of invasive non-native species. It took twenty years before floating pennywort was banned from sale by which point banning the sale is arguably ineffective as it is so well established in the wild. We should be controlling the import and sale of species that are assessed as high risk but aren’t yet well established in the UK. In so doing we can prevent the damage that such species cause.
We support the work of the GB non-native species secretariat and the underpinning strategy on preventative measures and tackling pathways. Ensuring that the EU Invasive Alien Species Regulation is fully integrated in UK law is an important step towards better regulation of invasive non-native species. The regulation establishes strict controls for high risk species and a requirement for action on pathways, it also requires provisions to be put in place for border and port controls. These currently exist around animal and plant diseases but not regarding invasive non-native species. The UK is currently one of the frontrunners in action on invasive non-native species in Europe, these preventative measures are important in remaining so and to give our native wildlife a better chance at surviving significant other challenges which they face.
Hannah Freeman
Government Affairs Officer, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust
Find WWT on Twitter: @WWTworldwide
The opinions expressed in this blog are the author’s and not necessarily those of the wider Link membership.
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