India needs a single and comprehensive policy to tackle invasive species: Ankila Hiremath

India needs a single and comprehensive policy to tackle invasive species: Ankila Hiremath

Subject: Environment

Section: Biodiversity

Context:

• Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is all set to release its landmark report on invasive species.

Report title:

• The status of Invasive Alien Species (IAS) and ways to control them.

Invasive Alien Species (IAS):

• Alien species are animals, plants and microbes that have been introduced by humans to new regions. Of these, invasive alien species have negative impacts on nature.
• Of the more than 37,000 alien species identified across the world, around 3,500 are invasive.
• Of the 37,000, six per cent of the plants, 22 per cent of the invertebrates, 14 per cent of the vertebrates and 11 per cent of microbes are invasive.
• For example:
  • Diseases such as malaria, Zika and West Nile Fever are spread by invasive alien mosquito species like Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegyptii.

Invasive Alien Species as a threat to biodiversity:

• Invasive alien species are one of the five major direct drivers of biodiversity loss globally, alongside land and sea-use change, direct exploitation of organisms, climate change, and pollution.
• Example: The arrival of avian malaria, for instance, in Hawaii, wiped out a very large proportion of their bird species.
• These species are more fire prone leading to more frequent forest fires.
• Invasive alien species have been a major factor in 60% and the only driver in 16% of global animal and plant extinctions that we have recorded, and at least 218 invasive alien species have been responsible for more than 1,200 local extinctions .
• In fact, 85% of the impacts of biological invasions on native species are negative.
• IAS costs the global economy $423 billion per year.
• Birds in some islands (eg. New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania) are not familiar with invasive rats, as these birds make their nests on ground. Many of them are flightless birds like: kiwi.
• Some prominent invasive alien species:
  • African catfish
  • Prosopis juliflora
  • Parthenon hysterophorus
  • Lantana camara
  • Kappaphycus alvarezii
  • Water hyacinth
  • Black rat
  • European shore crab
  • Caribbean false mussel
  • Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegyptii
  • Zebra mussel (a small freshwater mussel)
  • Brown tree snake

Steps taken:

• Target 6 of the recently adopted Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is to “eliminate, minimize, reduce and or mitigate the impacts of invasive alien species on biodiversity and ecosystem services”.
• Target 4 of India’s National Biodiversity Action Plan is specifically focused on the prevention and management of invasive species.
• The Environment Protection Act,
• The Livestock Importation Act, 1898
  • The Act regulates the import of Livestock in India.
  • Section 1 (Short title and local extent);
  • Section 2 (Definitions);
  • Section 3 (Power to regulate importation of live-stock),
    • Section 3A (Power to regulate Importation of live-stock products);
  • Section 4 (Power of State Government to make rules); and
  • Section 5 (Protection to persons acting under Act).
• The Plant Quarantine Rules.
  • Plant quarantine is the legal enforcement of measures to prevent further spread or proliferation of pests that have already invaded and settled in new restricted areas.
  • Objectives of plant quarantine 
    • New strains of pathogens have been developed to control the spread of harmful diseases and pests.
    • With the application of the DIP Act 1914 and the Plant Quarantine (Import Control to India) Order 2003, imported agricultural products are controlled to prevent the invasion of foreign pests and diseases harmful to Indian flora and fauna.
    • As required by FAO’s 1951 International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), plants and plant materials for export are controlled to ensure pest-free trade.
  • The Plant Protection, Storage, and Storage Bureau, which is part of the Ministry of Agriculture, is primarily responsible for implementing the quarantine restrictions issued under the DIP Act. This agency is responsible for the import and export of seeds and seedlings from ethnic minorities for commercial purposes.

For details of Invasive Alien Species: https://optimizeias.com/invasive-alien-species/