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Invasive species

 

What are they?

Invasive species are plants, animals or microorganisms not native to an ecosystem, whose introduction threatens biodiversity, food security, health or economic development.

 

 

Ragwort

 

 What sort of problems are they causing?

Globally, the cost of damage caused by invasive species has been estimated to be £1.5 trillion per year – close to 5% of global GDP.

In developing countries, where agriculture accounts for a higher proportion of GDP, the negative impact of invasive species on food security as well as on economic performance, can be even greater.

Virtually all ecosystem types on the planet are affected by invasive species and they pose one of the biggest threats to biodiversity worldwide.

Globalisation through increased trade, transport, travel and tourism will inevitably increase the intentional or accidental introduction of organisms to new environments, and it is widely predicted that climate change will further increase the threat posed by invasive species.

  

 What's CABI doing about invasive species?

Water Hyacinths

Water hyacinth on Lake Victoria

We have a long history researching invasive species that affect agriculture and the environment to find natural ways of controlling them. At any one time we are looking at around 60 invasive species.

We have expertise in the increasingly important area of Sanitary and Phytosanitary - looking at the risk of invasive species to trade.

We  provide invasive species information products and services in invasive species such as the Invasive Species Compendium which is currently being developed. 

Japanese knotweed

Japanese knotweed is one of the most invasive weeds in Europe and it's rapidly colonising North Amercia. CABI scientists are researching ways of controlling this pernicious weed by natural means. We hope we've found the solution...

To find out more, please visit: www.cabi.org/japaneseknotweedalliance/

 

 

Find out more about our work by looking at some of our current projects on invasive species. Click here for more information.

 

How can you help?

As a not-for-profit organisation we need funding to undertake our work. If you would like to sponsor one of our existing projects please contact the project manager for the relevant project. If you would like to sponsor some research into an invasive species please contact our Communications team at t.davis@cabi.org

 

GISP

We are also proud to be a founding partner of the Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP) - a partnership between 4 organisations, devoted to implementing a global strategy on invasive alien species. The GISP mission is to conserve biodiversity and sustain human livelihoods by minimizing the spread and impact of invasive alien species.