WHY AN INFORMATION PLATFORM ON INVASIVE ALIEN SPECIES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN?

Biological diversity faces many threats throughout the world. One of the major threats to native biological diversity is now acknowledged by scientists and governments to be biological invasions caused by alien invasive species. The impacts of alien invasive species are immense, insidious, and usually irreversible. Invasive species are second only to habitat destruction as the most significant cause of species extinction worldwide - In islands, they are undisputedly first.

This has led IUCN, and mainly through the Invasive Species Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission, as well as through its members and partners, to enhance its capacity to address invasive species issues if it is to achieve its mission and vision, put an end to species extinction and support the maintenance of ecosystems.

The IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation, and responding to the need that was expressed by the experts that attended the ’International Conference on Invasive Plants in Mediterranean-Type Ecosystems‘, has developed this web-based information platform in an effort to:

1. Expose initiatives and reinforce partnerships that are relevant to management of Invasive Alien Species in the Mediterranean;
   
   
2. Identify synergies, challenges and opportunities for managing invasives;
   
   
3. Facilitate the exchange of information and expertise on Invasive Species in the region;
   
   
4. Examine the experiences and specificities of Mediterranean Islands in managing this issue;
   
   
5. Expose global initiatives to the Mediterranean region (i.e. The Cooperative Island Initiative, Global Invasive Species Database…);
   
   
6. Provide knowledge that will help influence relevant policy plans and programmes and enhance cooperation mechanisms for the management of invasive species in the Mediterranean region.

This information platform can be further enriched with your support. Please do not hesitate in sending us your experiences, success cases studies as well as failure stories. Our aim is to make those experiences available and shared among the different experts and actors who are concerned with the management of invasive alien species in the Mediterranean. By increasing our collective knowledge on this topic and sharing our views and experiences, we will be able to better conserve our species and maintain our ecosystem integrity.