The new report in the CSIC’s Science for Policy collection, Invasive alien species: ecological and socio-economic challenges for public policy-making, brings together and synthesises current scientific knowledge on these species, adopting an approach that integrates their ecological, economic and social impacts. In addition to identifying the main challenges associated with this issue, the document proposes lines of action and management strategies based on scientific evidence.
Aimed at public administrations, productive sectors and society at large, the report examines how the introduction of these species — whether intentional or accidental, through international trade or transport, and further facilitated by climate change — has become one of the main threats to biodiversity, ecosystems and human well-being.
Invasive alien species disrupt native populations, alter ecosystems and natural cycles, pose risks to animal and human health, and generate significant economic losses in sectors such as agriculture, livestock farming, forestry, fisheries and tourism.
In this context, the report brings together noteworthy examples from across Spain, covering both aquatic and terrestrial environments, and highlights the need for stronger international cooperation, given that political borders do not prevent their spread. At the same time, it sets out prevention and management strategies based on scientific evidence, aimed at reducing this problem as far as possible and mitigating its ecological and socio-economic effects.
Among its specific recommendations are strengthening prevention, improving early detection systems — including tools such as environmental DNA — fostering cross-border collaboration between public authorities, scientists and managers, and promoting ecosystem restoration as a key tool to curb the spread of biological invasions.
The report, entitled Especies exóticas invasoras: retos ecológicos y socioeconómicos para la formulación de políticas públicas, has been published in the Science for Policy collection of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Publishing House. It was coordinated by Enrique González-Ortegón, Gustavo Freire de Carvalho-Souza, José A. Cuesta Mariscal, Elena Angulo Aguado, Montserrat Vilà, Ana Novoa and Marta López Darias, and also brings together contributions from other CSIC specialists. In the case of CEAB-CSIC, the report includes contributions from researchers Marc Rius and Xavier Turon.
