Managing alien species pathways and vectors

Shipping and recreational boating, the movement of live bait and fire wood, cargo transport and wildlife trade, are only some of the pathways and vectors through which alien species are moved outside their natural range by humans. Transport, trade, travel and tourism provide vectors and pathways for live animals, plants, and other biological material to overcome those biogeographical barriers that would usually block their movement and spread. Given the multitude of such pathways and the variable impact they have, it is necessary to prioritize those pathways with the greatest impact on biodiversity and possibly manage them appropriately to enhance the prevention of biological invasions. 

Canada goose in "flight" © Photo: Riccardo Scalera

The importance of the threat of invasive alien species (IAS) pathways is reflected in a range of international, regional and national laws and agreements. For example, Target 9 of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 - adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at the 10th COP - states: “By 2020, invasive alien species and pathways are identified and prioritized, priority species are controlled or eradicated, and measures are in place to manage pathways to prevent their introduction and establishment”. At the European level, the same goal is reported within target 5 of the Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 of the European Union (EU). As a result, all EU Member States, following the recent adoption of the EU Regulation on IAS, are required to develop action plans for the management of pathways: a significant improvement in the coordination, implementation, and consistency of pathway management across the region.

Also the Council of Europe provided significant support in this context. Since the development of the European Strategy on IAS in 2003, the Group of experts on Invasive Alien Species established by the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention in 1992,  has focussed its work on the identification and prioritisation of pathways, and started preparing targeted codes of conduct to address these. So far the Standing Committee has endorsed codes of conduct on IAS and activities such as horticulture, zoos and aquaria, botanic gardens, hunting, pets or recreational fishing (all codes are available here under documents/publications). Other codes are under development, including on plantation forestry and recreational boating. More recently, as reported by Recommendation N°179 (2015), the Bern Convention identified a number of activities to be carried out in coordination with the European Commission (EC), among which the possibility to draft a Guidance document on action plans for the management of IAS pathways.

The guidance document on IAS pathways action plans

The result is a document including three sections, namely an introduction (with an overview of the available information on identification, prioritisation and management of IAS pathways, along with preliminary results and future challenges on assessing priority pathways), a section describing the most relevant policy and legislation, and a core body including the actual guidelines on how to draft an action plan for dealing with IAS pathways. The following key sections of an ideal acton plan are described in the detail in the document of the Council of Europe:

• Description of the target pathway
• Policy and legal background
• Aims and strategies
• Identification of key stakeholders
• Foreseen measures (Specific measures depending on the IAS  pathway targeted, Common measures for all management/action plans for IAS pathways)
• Time schedule
• Financial planning

Besides the elements of an ideal plan, the guidance document describes further elements to take into account for facilitating the management of the planning process, stressing the importance of a sound pre-planning phase.

Although the need of such guidance was inspired by the provisions of the EU regulation on IAS, the interest of this work is not to be considered limited to the EU Member States. This fits well with the Bern Convention role to further outside the EU the innovation of the EU Regulation on IAS, and represents another step in the process led by the Council of Europe in drafting key IAS related documents over the years, by stressing the added value of ensuring a harmonised approach in the region.

A new code for preventing animal escapes from zoos

Himalayan porcupines and Egyptian fruit bats do not belong to the European fauna, yet a few years ago they were well established in the wild, respectively in Devon (UK) and in the Canary islands. Wildlife managers decided to remove them to mitigate their impact on the new environment. Nevertheless, the problem could be easily prevented, because the introduction of the two species was probably a consequence of zoo escapes.

Specific and comprehensive analysis regarding invasive alien species (IAS) originated by escapes and/or releases from zoological gardens and aquaria in Europe are lacking, but there are evidences of some IAS populations still thriving and clearly originating from such pathways (even though in terms of relative risk, zoos and aquaria have a limited responsibility compared to other pathways i.e. pet trade, hunting, horticulture, etc.). A famous case is the one of the ruddy duck, a species of North American origin, which represents a major threat to the European white-headed duck, and is now being targeted by costly management programs. Another famous “escape” is the one of the tropical alga Caulerpa taxifolia unintentionally introduced from a public aquarium into the Mediterranean Sea. There is also an episode regarding the transmission of disease, like in the case of the deadly amphibian fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) accidentally introduced within the endangered population of the Mallorcan midwife toad (although before Bd was identified as a pathogen, and relevant screening methods were established). Surprisingly, there are also several records of marine mammals (including even beluga whales and sea lions) introduced from coastal dolphinaria and oceanaria, particularly in the Black Sea.

In Poland the Canada goose was unintentionally introduced also through escapes from a local zoo. Photo © Vibe Kjaedegaard

The identification of pathways and the implementation of best practices and voluntary measures to prevent the threats posed by IAS are currently recognised as critical issues in relation to the European policy on IAS. On the other hand, modern zoos are privileged allies of conservationists for the fundamental role they play on biodiversity conservation programs and related awareness raising activities (it is estimated that over 140 million people visit European zoos every year). For this reason, the Bern Convention and the Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) of the IUCN, in collaboration with the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) have developed the European Code of Conduct for Zoological Gardens and Aquaria on Invasive Alien Species.

The publication in English (link updated on 27/11/2016)

The objective of this document is to provide guidance to zoological gardens and aquaria to strengthen their role for biodiversity conservation in Europe, by contributing to mitigate the problems related to the spread of IAS. This should be done through the following measures:

• Prevent the introduction and spread of IAS and related pathogens and diseases;
• Promote the need to raise awareness on biological invasions;
• Support IAS related research projects and other relevant conservation initiatives.

In line with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) targets for 2020, as well as the EU biodiversity strategy to 2020, the code includes five main recommendations:

1. Adopt effective preventative measures to avoid unintentional introduction and spread of IAS;
2. Take into account the risks of IAS introductions in all wildlife and habitat management projects;
3. Proactively engage in awareness raising and outreach activities focusing on IAS and their impacts;
4. Adopt best practices for supporting early warning and rapid response system for IAS;
5. Be aware of all relevant regulations concerning zoological gardens and aquaria and IAS

The code - which includes a description of measure to implement the five recommendations above - has been formally approved at the last Standing Committee meeting of the Bern Convention on 30 November 2012. At the same meeting, with the aim of ensuring responsible and proactive policies and applying these in a coherent manner across Europe, the Standing Committee praised the innovative approach of such voluntary instrument, and adopted the Recommendation No.161 (2012). The aim is to invite all Bern Convention parties to implement the code, by drawing up their own national codes of conduct based on the European version, and by collaborating with zoological gardens and aquaria in implementing good practices aimed at preventing the spread of invasive alien species.

Another major achievement of the new code has been the formal acknowledgement received by the recent 11th Conference of the Parties of the CBD held at Hyderabad (India, 8-19 October 2012) which in its Decision XI/28. Invasive alien species:

“welcomes the development of voluntary codes of conduct on these separate pathways, such as the “Code of conduct on zoological gardens and aquaria and invasive species” developed by the Bern Convention, the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, and requests the Executive Secretary to compile information and to work with experts to avoid and/or minimize the risks particular to these separate pathways”

Shutting the stable door before the horse bolts.
Drawing © Riccardo Scalera