Analysing the Risks Posed by Biological Invasions to South Africa

Abstract

Risk analysis is an important decision-support tool for the management of biological invasions. South Africa, as a signatory to international agreements, has enacted legislation requiring risk analyses to be conducted if trade is to be restricted or regulated and if alien species are to be introduced. In this chapter, we outline the various needs for risk analyses for biological invasions in South Africa, summarise the current status, and make recommendations for a way forward. In particular, we highlight the need to move away from approaches that are purely based on expert opinion or entirely reactive, and propose a new system and process which includes the use of a structured risk analysis framework with clear guidelines to avoid expert bias. We highlight the need to assess risk, consider risk management options (including benefits), and to develop clear recommendations. The proposed process also involves the review of recommendations by an independent panel. We further note that the effectiveness of such approaches will be defined by their transparency, their accuracy, how feasible they are to implement in practice, and the trust that people have in the system.

Biological Invasions in South Africa’s Urban Ecosystems: Patterns, Processes, Impacts, and Management

“…Such information is increasingly important as urban planners are giving more attention to adaptation of cities to climate change; impact assessment schemes [e.g. EICAT (Blackburn et al 2014) and SEICAT (Bacher et al 2018); Kumschick et al (2020), Chap. 20] provide a good starting point but need to be adapted for South African urban settings.…”

South Africa’s Centre for Invasion Biology: An Experiment in Invasion Science for Society

“…This has included work on "emerging invasive species" (as discussed by Wilson et al 2013), where effective networking has drawn on the combined resources of SANBI and the C•I•B to gain new knowledge. Similarly, with respect to risk assessment science (Kumschick et al 2020), obvious benefits have emerged from linking SANBI and C•I•B networks. Links with the City of Cape Town helped to formalise the often missing association between research and implementation (see Gaertner et al 2016Gaertner et al , 2017, especially in habitat restoration (see Mostert et al 2018;Holmes et al 2020), and urban invasions (see Potgieter et al 2018, 2020.…”

“…Work conducted at the C•I•B to improve risk assessment protocols for invasive species management in South Africa is summarised in Chap. 20 (Kumschick et al 2020).…”

A Brief, Selective History of Researchers and Research Initiatives Related to Biological Invasions in South Africa

“…Its goals were specifically to detect and document new invasions; provide reliable and transparent post-border risk assessments; and provide the cross-institutional coordination needed to successfully implement national eradication plans (Wilson et al 2013). SANBI's work on biological invasions has since expanded to include the curation of data relevant to biological invasions and their management, the compilation of a national status report on biological invasions, and specific functions such as acting as the secretariat for the national annual symposium on biological invasions, and establishing and running a South African Alien Species Risk Analysis Review Panel (Kumschick et al 2020;Chap. 20).…”