Toward a Black List of Invasive Alien Species
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Strasbourg, 15 October 2007 T-PVS/Inf (2007) 9 [Inf09e_2007.doc] CONVENTION ON THE CONSERVATION OF EUROPEAN WILDLIFE AND NATURAL HABITATS Standing Committee 27th meeting Strasbourg, 26-29 November 2007 __________ T OWARD A BLACK LIST OF I NVASIVE A LIEN S PECIES ENTERING E UROPE THROUGH TRADE, AND PROPOSED RESPONSES Document prepared by Mr Piero Genovesi and Mr Riccardo Scalera __________________________________________________________ This document will not be distributed at the meeting. Please bring this copy. Ce document ne sera plus distribué en réunion. Prière de vous munir de cet exemplaire. T-PVS/Inf (2007) 9 -2 A CKNOWLEDGMENTS The present report has been made possible by the support of many specialists, who provided valuable information and comments. In particular, we would thank the DAISIE consortium, which allowed us to use the information gathered for producing the list of 100 among the worst invasive alien species in Europe. Phil Hulme provided us with very helpful comments on the categories on the main trade related pathways of alien species introduction. Melanie Joseffson much helped us in regard to data gathered within the NOBANIS project, and contributed with useful comments and suggestions that much improved the report. Tor-Björn Larsson gave us support with regard to the SEBI2010 initiative. Maj De Poorter made available an unpublished report on Protected Areas and alien species that permitted us to test the validity of the metalist produced within this report. Michael Browne and Charles Copp provided us with preliminary information on the results of the GRIS, including the list of alien species considered in the relative database, that we used to assess the limits and potentialities of producing global and/or regional species lists for regulation of trade related activities. We particularly thank Sarah Brunel for her valuable comments, and for having provided and discussed, with the support of Jean-Marc Tison, the data of the EPPO lists. Stephan Gollash and Bella Galil classified all marine species. Alain Roques provided information on the role of trade in the transport of all terrestrial invertebrates. Marie Laure Loustau classified all fungi. Vadim Panov, Francesca Gherardi and Elena Tricarico provided data on freshwater alien species. Other experts contributed with comments and suggestions on the preliminary draft presented at the 7th meeting of the Group of Experts on Invasive Alien Species of the Council of Europe, held in Reykjavik (Iceland) 22-24 May 2007. Among them a special thank to Joan Mayol Serra, Czirák Zoltán, Ema Gojdieová, Oksana Abduloyeva, and Eladio Fernandez-Galiano. -3-T-PVS/Inf (2007) 9 Summary Introduction ............................................................................................................................4 Abbreviations .........................................................................................................................5 IROLE OF TRADE IN THE INTRODUCTION OF INVASIVE ALIEN SPECIES............ 6 II P OLICIES AND TRADE REGULATIONS WITH REGARD TO ALIEN SPECIES MOVEMENTS ........................................................................................................................... 7 1. E UROPEAN SCALE ............................................................................................................ 7 2. N ATIONAL SCALE ............................................................................................................ 7 3. S UB- NATIONAL SCALE..................................................................................................... 8 IIIEXISTING LISTS OF KNOWN INVASIVE ALIEN SPECIES IN E UROPE .............. 8 1. EPPO (E UROPEAN AND M EDITERRANEAN P LANT P ROTECTION O RGANIZATION )........... 8 2. SEBI2010 L IST OF WORST INVASIVE ALIEN SPECIES THREATENING BIODIVERSITY IN E UROPE ................................................................................................................................... 8 3. NOBANIS F ACT SHEETS ON I NVASIVE A LIEN S PECIES .................................................. 9 4. DAISIE......................................................................................................................... 10 5. EU W ILDLIFE T RADE R EGULATIONS............................................................................. 10 IV T HE CUMULATIVE LIST OF INVASIVE ALIEN SPECIES IN E UROPE .............. 11 1. M ATERIALS AND M ETHODS ........................................................................................... 11 VCLASSIFICATION OF SPECIES WITH REGARD TO TRADE ...................................... 12 1. C AUSES OF INTRODUCTION............................................................................................ 12 2. A NALYSIS BY TAXONOMIC GROUPS ............................................................................... 16 VI G APS AND LIMITS OF EXISTING E UROPEAN IAS LISTS ................................. 18 1. E XISTING LISTS.............................................................................................................. 18 2. T HE METALIST ............................................................................................................... 18 3. T HE METALIST AS A TOOL FOR PREVENTING BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS IN E UROPE .......... 19 VII R ECOMMENDED ACTIONS : .............................................................................. 21 C ITED LITERATURE ............................................................................................................ 22 Appendix I: Metalist of known invasive alien species for Europe ....................................... 23 T-PVS/Inf (2007) 9 -4 Introduction The number of unwanted alien species invading Europe is dramatically increasing, and scientifically documented clues of their ecological, economic and health impacts are being collected. For this reason European countries and institutions are urgently requested to develop effective policies based on sound stringent rules to prevent further unwanted introductions and, when feasible and appropriate, to manage the impact of those species already established. Several international and regional provisions and recommendations underline the pivotal role of trade regulations for preventing biological invasions of alien species, based on a system of lists of unwanted, authorised, and un-screened species. The European Strategy on Invasive Alien Species, adopted by the Standing Committee of the Bern convention with Recommendation n. 99/2003, calls Member States to prevent the introduction of invasive alien species (IAS) in Europe through a coordinated framework of legal and management measures, including measures for the regulation of trade and possession of alien species, based on an authorisation system. The authorisation process shall take into account the mandatory rules of those agreements related to the European Community free-market policy and the provisions of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), according to which any trade restriction must be justified on a case by case evaluation, based on a objective risk analysis. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) imposes on Parties to “prevent the introduction of, control or eradicate those alien species which threaten ecosystems, habitats or species” (art. 8(h)), preventing, as a matter of priority, the introduction of invasive or potentially invasive alien species into the region. A report produced in 2006 by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) for the European Commission on European policies on alien species (Miller et al. 2006), recommends to consider producing a “black list” of species prohibited for import into the European Community (EC), giving priority to those species which carry a high risk of being invasive and which might cause a negative impacts on the conservation of regional biodiversity. An overview of the existing international/regional mechanisms to ban or restrict trade in potentially invasive alien species in Europe (Shine 2006) concluded that a robust level of protection consistent with WTO rules (i.e. sanitary and phytosanitary or SPS standards), based on regional risk assessment, is needed. In order to substantially reduce the impact on European biodiversity, the European Union (EU) approved in 2006 a policy document (Biodiversity Communication, COM(2006)216) 1 according to which “invasive alien species were identified in the 6th EAP as a priority for action”. The document also states that “while support has been given to some localized eradication programmes via LIFE funding [see Scalera and Zaghi 2004], the European Community has still to develop a comprehensive strategy to address this issue”. A specific objective of such a strategy should be “to substantially reduce the impact on EU biodiversity of invasive alien species and alien genotypes”. The document states that “various measures for the prevention and control of invasive alien species are in place but some policy gaps may remain; a comprehensive EU strategy should be developed for this purpose as well as specific actions including an early warning system”. In regard to the above considerations, the objectives of this report are to: 1) review and collate existing lists of known IAS for Europe, 2) analyse the role of trade in the introduction of the IAS included in the existing lists, 3) review gaps and potentialities of the existing IAS listing systems for Europe, 4) propose recommendations for a more effective response by European institutions and governments in regard