Mitigating the threats of invasive alien species in the insular Caribbean

Overview

Results

The team

Related information

So what's the problem?

Invasive species are plants, animals or microorganisms not native to an ecosystem, whose introduction is threatening biodiversity, food security, health or economic development. Islands, with their diverse but delicate ecosystems are particularly at risk from invasive alien species which can do great damage to the native biodiversity. In the Caribbean invasive alien species are a major threat to the vulnerable marine, freshwater and terrestrial biodiversity of the many islands, and to the people depending on this biodiversity for their livelihoods and wellbeing.

Due to the nature of many of the invasive species and their ability to spread and colonise new areas, any attempt to tackle this threat will require a regional effort. Caribbean states have recognised this need for a regional strategy, in line with the Convention on Biological Diversity's declaration that efforts must be made to prevent, control or eradicate invasive species that threaten ecosystems.

What is this project doing?

CABI is coordinating the project and is working with a multitude of partners from island nations across the insular Caribbean.

This project aims to broaden the approach to deal with invasive alien species both by strengthening existing national capacity and measures and by fostering regional cooperation frameworks through which Caribbean-wide strategies can be developed.

So far, the Bahamas is the only partner country which already has a national invasive species strategy. Through this project, and under the guidance of a national steering committee, the other four countries involved will develop their own national strategies which will inform coherent policies, legislation, regulation and management of invasive species.

In order to establish Caribbean wide cooperation and strategy, regional consultations will be held on marine, terrestrial and freshwater aquatic invasives. These will form the basis for a draft region-wide invasive species strategy. The Caribbean Invasive Species Working Group (CISWG) has developed a Caribbean Regional Invasive Species Intervention Strategy (CRISIS) but so far this has agricultural pests as its main focus. Under the proposed project, the mechanisms proposed by CRISIS will be adapted and expanded to include invasive species which threaten biodiversity. The project will also develop regional strategies for marine, terrestrial and aquatic species, broadening the scope of the work done to date.

Knowledge generation, management and dissemination will be a key part of this project, allowing the impact of the work to continue long after the end of the life of the project. This involves developing and disseminating best practice guidelines based on a critical situation analysis for each country and making the research findings from this and other projects available.

Access to data will also be key, as is the need to build capacity at each level in order to eradicate, and improve control and management of invasive species and to prevent new invasions.

In parallel with participation in the development of national and regional strategies, each country will also address its own most pressing problems. This will be achieved through12 pilot projects relating to prevention, early detection and rapid response, management, and eradication of the most problematic invasive species. These include projects on Frosty pod rot (a devastating disease of cocoa)in Trinidad & Tobago; protection of endangered and endemic reptiles on Maria Island, St Lucia; action against a suspected invasion of Caulerpa taxifolia, which is threatening native seagrass beds in Trinidad & Tobago; eradication of invasive predatory mammals threatening endangered native birds and reptiles in St Lucia and the Dominican Republic; and the management of the invasive lionfish and green mussel in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago respectively. Finally, two further pilot projects will develop management strategies at the ecosystem level for sites of high conservation value which are threatened by invasives, namely: the Lower Black River Morass, a Ramsar site in Jamaica, and the Nariva Swamp in Trinidad and Tobago, where rare and endangered palm species are threatened by exotic insect pests.

In all of these projects there is a strong emphasis on building the skills and knowledge of Government staff and other practitioners and providing them with the right tools to effectively manage the problem. In addition, the projects aim to raise awareness of the issues surrounding invasive species amongst the wider general public, and highlighting the key invasive species in each country.

The pilot projects have been designed so that their findings and lessons learned will be readily applicable to other sites, including other Caribbean states, enabling replication of the methodologies. Through this synergistic approach, the proposed project aims to provide the participating countries and others in the Caribbean region with the necessary tools and capacity to address existing and future biological invasions.

Results so far

Project reports

Project flyer

Project Manager