The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has selected Dr Phill Cassey, director of Centre for Applied Conservation Science to be Lead Author for Chapter 4 of the IPBES thematic assessment named “the assessment of invasive alien species”. The Plenary of IPBES decided to begin this assessment following its 7th session (May 2019), based on a scoping report, which includes a detailed description of all chapters.
The objectives of the assessment are to assess:
- the array of invasive alien species
- the extent of the threat they pose to biodiversity and ecosystem services, human health and livelihood security
- the major pathways for, and drivers of, their introduction and spread
- their impacts
- the level of awareness of invasive alien species and their impacts
- and the effectiveness of current control measures and associated policy options.
The assessment will consider terrestrial, freshwater and marine biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and ecosystem services. It will build upon previous assessments, including IPBES assessments; available scientific and grey literature; and information from indigenous and local knowledge systems.
The assessment of invasive alien species will be conducted over a period of three and a half to a maximum of four years, depending on the dates of the future sessions of the IPBES Plenary. The first author meeting will be held in in Tsukuba, Japan later this year.
Congratulations to Phill!
