2023-09-04 16:10:30
The IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) report calls on the world to “wake up” to the “scourge” of invasive species around the world, as “the window of opportunity to act is shrinking,” several experts and scientists said on Monday.
This unprecedented and large-scale publication, the fruit of four years of work by 86 international authors working under the aegis of the UN, warns of the “serious threat” posed by these species introduced by man outside their environment. origin both for nature and for the quality of life on Earth.
This long underestimated phenomenon will continue to grow in the future if nothing is done to stem it, conclude its authors, who believe that there is still time to act, but that we must provide the means.
Biological invasions “became one of the five horsemen of the apocalypse […] which is falling more and more rapidly on the world”, reacted Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), asking “all decision makers to use the recommendations as a basis for taking action in the face of to this growing threat.
This report is “a wake-up call” and should “mark a turning point in the way we manage these invasive species”, says Professor Rick Stafford, member of the British learned society BES (British Ecological Society).
“Until now, the policy of laissez-faire of the authorities makes that we walk like sleepwalkers towards the installation of a homogenized nature with McDonald’s with invasive species which dominate in several zones” of the world, declares the Dr Alexander Lees, biodiversity specialist at the University of Manchester.
“The scale of threats to our existence and the pace of predicted change are growing at an even more alarming rate, while the window of opportunity for action is shrinking. And all we do is mute the alarm clock over and over!” is alarmed John Spicer, an expert in marine biology at the University of Plymouth.
“It is still possible to limit the threat of invasive alien species, but it requires international and cross-sector collaboration, political will from governments and substantial resources,” said Piero Genovesi, chair of the Invasive Species Specialist Group ( ISSG) of IUCN.
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