An exhaustive report by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) reveals that invasive species play a key part in most extinctions and cost the economy hundreds of billions of dollars. “Invasive alien species have been a major factor in 60% and the only driver in 16% of global animal and plant extinctions that we have recorded,” says forest ecologist Aníbal Pauchard, the co-chair of the assessment group. Introduced animals and plants can spread disease, hobble agriculture and make ecosystems more fire-prone. Once established, invaders are hard to remove, so the report recommends investing in better border biosecurity to stop them before they arrive.
Editor: GiHoon Hong
IPBES (2023). Summary for Policymakers of the Thematic Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Roy, H. E., Pauchard, A., Stoett, P., Renard Truong, T., Bacher, S., Galil, B. S., Hulme, P. E., Ikeda, T., Sankaran, K. V., McGeoch, M. A., Meyerson, L. A., Nuñez, M. A., Ordonez, A., Rahlao, S. J., Schwindt, E., Seebens, H., Sheppard, A. W., and Vandvik, V. (eds.). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7430692
