The set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets aims to move the world to a sustainable trajectory of economic development, environmental sustainability, and social inclusion. This paper presents a review of relevant reports as well as scientific publications to assess the interlinkages between SDG 9 dealing with industrial innovation and infrastructure and SDGs relating to social inclusion (SDG 2 and 11), environmental sustainability (SDG 6, 13, and 15), and economic development (SDG 7). The identified interlinkages were mapped and characterized based on compatibility (co‐benefit, trade‐off, neutral) in attaining the targets of the considered SDGs. Our results showed that the co‐benefits were by far the most dominant interactions between the targets of SDG 9 and the targets of the SDGs that were considered. The targets of SDG 2 had the largest number of neutral interlinkages with the targets of SDG 9, while trade‐off interlinkages were found mainly between SDG 9 targets and the targets of SDG 6, 13, and 15. This review will raise awareness of the significance of understanding the nature of interlinkages between the different SDGs to relevant role players and will also inform and stimulate science–policy dialogue on the importance of interlinkages in the implementation, monitoring, and reporting of SDG 9 targets.

Invasive alien species (IAS) are known to pose a serious threat to biodiversity, and reduce the ability of ecosystems to provide benefits to humans. In recognition of this threat and to address the impacts of IAS, Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted Aichi Biodiversity Target 9, which is dedicated to the control or eradication of priority IAS and the management of their introduction pathways by 2020. The achievement of Target 9 relies strongly on the commitment and ability of Parties to set ambitious national or regional targets and achive them, the availability of information and the requisite expertise on invasion biology. Now that the global community is gearing for the post-2020 Biodiversity Framework, it is time to take stock and identify opportunities to improve the performance of the African region beyond 2020. We approached this task by reviewing information on the impacts of IAS on ecosystem services in Africa, as a large proportion of Africans directly rely on ecosystem services, particularly in rural areas. Furthermore, we assessed the expertise on IAS in Africa. Our data sources were National Reports of African countries to the CBD, as well as peer-reviewed scientific literature. National Reports under the CBD provide information on measures taken to implement the Convention at country level, as well as progress towards the achievement of set targets. We found National Reports for 48 (about 90%) countries of which 73% provided feedback on IAS indicating commitment to fight IAS. However, there were few studies within peer-reviewed scientific literature looking at impacts of IAS on ecosystem services in Africa and almost half of the authors were non-Africans. This alludes to limited scientific expertise to inform and support IAS management on the continent. Both the National Reports and scientific literature showed that provisioning services were the most negatively affected by IAS. Also, more than 100 species were listed as problematic. More efforts and resources are needed to document IAS impacts across different realms (e.g. marine, terrestrial and freshwater) and for sub-regional bodies so that more integrated strategies and approaches can be developed. This information is also needed to support the development and implementation of national legislative and regulatory initiatives, as well as to report on international obligations such as the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

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AcknowledgmentsThanks to Marno Fourie and Oliver Kambaj for field assistance and reviewers for helpful suggestions to improve this manuscript. We thank private landowners and CapeNature for access to field sites (permit number: AAA008-00027-0028). This study was funded by the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology. Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. AbstractThe Cape Floristic Region of South Africa is a global biodiversity hotspot threatened by invasive alien plants (IAPs). We assessed the effect of plant invasions, and their subsequent clearing, on riparian arthropod diversity. Foliage-active arthropod communities were collected from two native and one invasive alien tree species. Alpha-and beta-diversity of their associated arthropod communities were compared between near pristine, Acacia-invaded and restored sites. Arthropod alpha-diversity at near pristine sites was higher than at restored sites, and was lowest at invaded sites. This was true for most arthropod taxonomic groups associated with all native tree species and suggests a general trend towards recovery in arthropod alpha-diversity after IAP removal. Overall, arthropod species turnover among sites was significantly influenced by plant invasions with communities at near pristine sites having higher turnover than those at restored and invaded sites. This pattern was not evident at the level of individual tree species. Although arthropod community composition was significantly 1 influenced by plant invasions, only a few significant differences in arthropod community composition could be detected between restored and near pristine sites for all tree species and arthropod taxonomic groups. Assemblage composition on each tree species generally differed between sites with similar degrees of plant invasion indicating a strong turnover of arthropod communities across the landscape. Results further suggest that both arthropod alpha-and beta-diversity can recover after IAP removal, given sufficient time, but catchment signatures must be acknowledged when monitoring restoration recovery.