The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) welcomed the recent call from non-governmental conservation organizations for continued action against invasive species, in which the authors stress that invasives are a major cause of biodiversity loss and that continued aggressive intervention is needed to capitalize on recent successes.
1 August 2011: The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has expressed support for a recent call from non-governmental conservation organizations for continued action against invasive species.
In its 22 July 2011 edition, Science magazine published a letter from leaders of major conservation organizations entitled “Invasives: A Major Conservation Threat.” In the letter, the leaders of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Birdlife, WWF, Conservation International, Wildlife Conservation Society, Fauna and Flora International, and Island Conservation argue that recent discussions on alternative strategies to the management of invasive species should not undermine ongoing efforts to prevent and mitigate the impacts of invasive species. The authors stress that as invasive species are a major cause of biodiversity loss, continued aggressive intervention is needed to capitalize on recent successes. Therefore, they call the global community to work together to control the most harmful invasive species, and to meet target 9 of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, which calls for action to control invasives.
In response, CBD Executive Secretary Ahmed Djoghlaf said: “We warmly welcome the letter published in Science – signed by an impressive list of leaders of conservation organizations – because it confirms the commitment of the conservation community to address this threat. Preventing and mitigating the negative effects of invasions is indeed a huge challenge, and the cooperation of the NGOs is of crucial importance.” [CBD Communiqué] [Science Magazine]