Detailed assessment of the reported economic costs of invasive species in Australia

Bradshaw, Corey J. A.; Hoskins, Andrew J.; Haubrock, Phillip J.; Cuthbert, Ross N.; Diagne, Christophe; Leroy, Boris; Andrews, Lindell; Page, Brad; Cassey, Phillip; Sheppard, Andy; Courchamp, Franck

doi:10.3897/neobiota.67.58834

Cited by 76 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…However, InvaCost only reported cost data for 35 species, suggesting a huge underestimation of invasion costs in Mexico -since costs are available for only 10% of known IAS. This proportion is similar to that reported in other studies, which have found that less than 10% of invaders have reported costs: Germany , France (Renault et al 2021), the United Kingdom, (Cuthbert et al 2021b), Asia (Liu et al 2021), Argentina (Duboscq-Carra et al 2021 or Australia (Bradshaw et al 2021). Even if one cannot conclude that actual costs should be ten times higher, the very high overall economic costs we found for only 10% of IAS in Mexico hints at a real, total cost that is staggering.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Economic costs of invasive alien species in Mexico

Rico-Sánchez¹,

Haubrock²,

Cuthbert³

et al. 2021

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Invasive alien species (IAS) are a leading driver of biodiversity loss worldwide, and have negative impacts on human societies. In most countries, available data on monetary costs of IAS are scarce, while being crucial for developing efficient management. In this study, we use available data collected from the first global assessment of economic costs of IAS (InvaCost) to quantify and describe the economic cost of invasions in Mexico. This description was made across a range of taxonomic, sectoral and temporal variables, and allowed us to identify knowledge gaps within these areas. Overall, costs of invasions in Mexico were estimated at US$ 5.33 billion (i.e., 109) ($MXN 100.84 billion) during the period from 1992 to 2019. Biological invasion costs were split relatively evenly between aquatic (US$ 1.16 billion; $MXN 21.95 billion) and terrestrial (US$ 1.17 billion; $MXN 22.14 billion) invaders, but semi-aquatic taxa dominated (US$ 2.99 billion; $MXN 56.57 billion), with costs from damages to resources four times higher than those from management of IAS (US$ 4.29 billion vs. US$ 1.04 billion; $MXN 81.17 billion vs $MXN 19.68 billion). The agriculture sector incurred the highest costs (US$ 1.01 billion; $MXN 19.1 billion), followed by fisheries (US$ 517.24 million; $MXN 9.79 billion), whilst most other costs simultaneously impacted mixed or unspecified sectors. When defined, costs to Mexican natural protected areas were mostly associated with management actions in terrestrial environments, and were incurred through official authorities via monitoring, control or eradication. On natural protected islands, mainly mammals were managed (i.e. rodents, cats and goats), to a total of US$ 3.99 million, while feral cows, fishes and plants were mostly managed in protected mainland areas, amounting to US$ 1.11 million in total. Pterygoplichthys sp. and Eichhornia crassipes caused the greatest reported costs in unprotected aquatic ecosystems in Mexico, and Bemisia tabaci to terrestrial systems. Although reported damages from invasions appeared to be fluctuating through time in Mexico, management spending has been increasing. These estimates, albeit conservative, underline the monetary pressure that invasions put on the Mexican economy, calling for urgent actions alongside comprehensive cost reporting in national states such as Mexico.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Economic costs of invasive alien species in Mexico

Rico-Sánchez¹,

Haubrock²,

Cuthbert³

et al. 2021

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“…Renault et al 2021;Haubrock et al 2021a), the majority of costs (US$84.18 billion; 60%) comprised expenditure on damages and losses, while control-related expenditure represented only 20% of all costs (US$28.17 billion). This dominance of damage costs over management investments is paralleled in other regions, such as Asia (Liu et al 2021), Africa , North America (Crystal-Ornelas et al 2021), Central/ South America (Heringer et al 2021), and Australia (Bradshaw et al 2021); but some individual countries appear to have more management costs (Angulo et al 2021a for Spain;Ballesteros-Mejia et al 2021 for Ecuador;Watari et al 2021 for Japan). Similar to Kourantidou et al (2021), a number of socio-economic factors significantly correlated with both the reported damages and management costs of IAS, namely: human population size, land area, GDP, and international tourism of the studied countries.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Economic costs of invasive alien species across Europe

Haubrock¹,

Turbelin²,

Cuthbert³

et al. 2021

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Biological invasions continue to threaten the stability of ecosystems and societies that are dependent on their services. Whilst the ecological impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) have been widely reported in recent decades, there remains a paucity of information concerning their economic impacts. Europe has strong trade and transport links with the rest of the world, facilitating hundreds of IAS incursions, and largely centralised decision-making frameworks. The present study is the first comprehensive and detailed effort that quantifies the costs of IAS collectively across European countries and examines temporal trends in these data. In addition, the distributions of costs across countries, socioeconomic sectors and taxonomic groups are examined, as are socio-economic correlates of management and damage costs. Total costs of IAS in Europe summed to US$140.20 billion (or €116.61 billion) between 1960 and 2020, with the majority (60%) being damage-related and impacting multiple sectors. Costs were also geographically widespread but dominated by impacts in large western and central European countries, i.e. the UK, Spain, France, and Germany. Human population size, land area, GDP, and tourism were significant predictors of invasion costs, with management costs additionally predicted by numbers of introduced species, research effort and trade. Temporally, invasion costs have increased exponentially through time, with up to US$23.58 billion (€19.64 billion) in 2013, and US$139.56 billion (€116.24 billion) in impacts extrapolated in 2020. Importantly, although these costs are substantial, there remain knowledge gaps on several geographic and taxonomic scales, indicating that these costs are severely underestimated. We, thus, urge increased and improved cost reporting for economic impacts of IAS and coordinated international action to prevent further spread and mitigate impacts of IAS populations.

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“…First, we showed that this is a general pattern in the region, with Singapore amongst the countries with most cost entries in Southeast Asia. Second, national or regional studies on the economic costs of biological invasions outside this region also consistently reported only between 2% and 10% of invasive alien species having recorded costs, for example, Argentina (Duboscq-Carra et al 20201), Asia (Liu et al 2021), Australia (Bradshaw et al 2021), France (Renault et al 2021), Germany (Haubrock et al 2021c), Mexico (Rico-Sánchez et al 2021 and United Kingdom (Cuthbert et al 2021a).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological invasions in Singapore and Southeast Asia: data gaps fail to mask potentially massive economic costs

Haubrock¹,

Cuthbert²,

Yeo³

et al. 2021

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The impacts of invasive alien species are well-known and are categorised as a leading contributor to biodiversity loss globally. However, relatively little is known about the monetary costs incurred from invasions on national economies, hampering management responses. In this study, we used published data to describe the economic cost of invasions in Southeast Asia, with a focus on Singapore – a biodiversity-rich, tropical island city state with small size, high human density and high trade volume, three factors likely to increase invasions. In this country, as well as in others in Southeast Asia, cost data were scarce, with recorded costs available for only a small fraction of the species known to be invasive. Yet, the overall available economic costs to Singapore were estimated to be ~ US$ 1.72 billion in total since 1975 (after accounting for inflation), which is approximately one tenth of the total cost recorded in all of Southeast Asia (US$ 16.9 billion). These costs, in Singapore and Southeast Asia, were mostly linked to insects in the family Culicidae (principally Aedes spp.) and associated with damage, resource loss, healthcare and control-related spending. Projections for 11 additional species known to be invasive in Singapore, but with recorded costs only from abroad, amounted to an additional US$ 893.13 million, showing the potential huge gap between recorded and actual costs (cost records remain missing for over 90% of invasive species). No costs within the database for Singapore – or for other Southeast Asian countries – were exclusively associated with proactive management, highlighting that a shortage of reporting on the costs of invasions is mirrored by a lack of investment in management. Moreover, invasion cost entries in Singapore were under-reported relative to import levels, but total costs exceeded expectations, based on land area and population size, and to a greater extent than in other Southeast Asian countries. Therefore, the evaluation and reporting of economic costs of invasions need to be improved in this region to provide efficient data-based support for mitigation and management of their impacts.

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Detailed assessment of the reported economic costs of invasive species in Australia

Cited by 76 publications

References 40 publications

Economic costs of invasive alien species in Mexico

Economic costs of invasive alien species in Mexico

Economic costs of invasive alien species across Europe

Biological invasions in Singapore and Southeast Asia: data gaps fail to mask potentially massive economic costs

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