Slide 1: Title.
Slide 2: An Economic Problem
The prevention, eradication and control of invasive species is an economic and governance issue and has less to do with biology and ecology than most people think.
Slide 3: Driven by Global Economic Forces
The invasive species phenomenon is driven by global economicforces. Our responses are predominantly local and this mismatch of scales means that actions are inadequate for the prevention, eradication and control of invasive species.
Slide 4: Economic reality
Invasive species management will remain piecemeal and under-resourced until:
- We have much greater awareness of the local, national and international role that economic forces play in driving the invasive species crises.
- We embrace a much wider role for economics that goes far beyond financial analysis in the search for solutions to the invasive species crisis.
Slide 5: Biological Invasion
“Is the naturalization and unintended spread of unwanted
organisms in areas where they have not previously occurred naturally. The organisms include plants, animals, bacterial diseases, fungi, and other pathogens, and they move as part of the global trade and travel movement of goods and people.”
-Jay 2003, p.121
Slides 6-7: Invasive Species
Most biological invasions remain localized and/or unproblematic but a few become:
“….an alien species whose introduction and spread threatens ecosystems, habitats or species with socio-cultural, economic and/or environmental harm, and/or harm to human health.”
-Convention on Biological Diversity
Slide 8: Management Goal
The exclusion, eradication or effective management of risks posed by weeds, pests and diseases to the economy, environment and human health.
-Biosecurity New Zealand
Slide 9: Management Outcomes
- Invasive species do not arrive and become established.
- If they do arrive and establish they are detected and eradicated before they can spread.
- The damage caused by invasive species that have established and spread is reduced.
- The public are active, informed and supportive participants in the biosecurity system.
-Convention on Biological Diversity and Biosecurity New Zealand
Slide 10: How Economics Informs Management
- Before the fact evaluation, prioritization and selection of possible prevention, eradication and control measures.
- After the fact evaluation of implemented methods to see whether or not they were efficient and/or effective.
- Monetized impact assessment looking at the cost of damage form invasive species and or costs of measures to eradicate or control species.
Slide 11: Ecosystem Services to the Economy
- Provisioning services
- Food production
- precursors to pharmaceuticals and industrial products
- Regulating services
- Carbon sequestration and climate regulation
- Waste decomposition and dilution
- Nutrient dispersal and cycling
- Supporting services
- Purification of water and air
- Oyster spat settlement
Slide 12: Ecosystem services
- Cultural services
- Intellectual, spiritual inspiration
- recreation
- Scientific discovery
- Preserving services
- Genetic and species diversity
- Insurance
- Protection of options
Slide 13: How Invasive Species Impact Ecosystem Services
- Consumption through predation or herbivory
- Competition
- Introduction and maintenance of disease
- Inbreeding with native species or population
- Disturbance and change in ecosystem structure and function
Slide 14: And Therefore Total Economic Value
- Use Values (market values)
- Consumptive (direct value)
- Non-Consumptive (indirect value)
- Future consumption or non-consumption (option value)
- Non-Use Values (Non market values)
- Existence value
- Bequest value
Slide 15: Selected Estimated Costs of Invasive Species
From Lovell et al. 2006 (in 2003 dollars)
USA General Estimate
OTA 1993 (1906 to 1991): $131-185 billion cumulative.
Pimentel. 2005: $128 billion annually.
Individual species:
Sea Lamprey (Jenkins 2001): $13.5 million annually Great Lakes.
Zebra Mussel (various): $3.2 - $6 billon (ten years) Great Lakes.
Loosestrife (Pimentel) 2005: $45 million annually (USA).
Aquatic weeds (Pimentel) 2005: $110 million annually (USA).
Slide 16: Economics of Invasive Species
Beyond shock value, such estimates may do very little for the management of invasive species and have even less to do with the economics of invasive species.
Slide 17: Financial Analyses are Insufficient
- Use financial/business data ignoring the full range of economic information necessary for making informed management decisions:
- Only address loss of some provisioning services and the potential control costs.
Slide 19:
- Do not value regulatory, supporting, cultural or preserving ecosystem services
- Rarely attempt to value loss or gain of indirect use values and loss of option value or explore loss or gainof non-use existence and bequest values.
- Value existing invasions and not the the benefits from prevention of introduction.
Slide 20: Distorted Accounting
Subsidies to producers reduce the cost of invasive species control and reported control costs are likely an underestimate of the cost to society.
Unlike lost production, control costs are part of the calculation of gross domestic product and therefore increasing control costs are seen as a positive contribution to net national welfare!!!
Green GDP, a concept accepted in many countries has yet to move beyond academia in the USA.
Slide 21: Back to the Big Picture
The openness of a countries economy, the make up of its trade flows, its regulatory regime and the importance of tourism and primary production make it more or less vulnerable to invasion.
Changes in land use practices that lead to habitat fragmentation, habitat conversion and disturbance can contribute to increased susceptibility of invasions.
The resource devoted to mechanisms for excluding or eradicating invasive species are insignificant and shrinking in scale and reach compared to the size of global or even regional factors contributing to invasion potential.
Slide 22: New Zealand’s Comprehensive Biosecurity Framework (chart)
Biological security is presented with risk as a result of imports, vessels, aircraft, passengers, mail, and natural incursions by air and sea.
Slide 23: Take Home Messages
Invasive species management is an economic issue but to date US management agencies treat as a biological or ecological matter. This has to change.
Not only is better economic information required about the impact of invasive species but we need to use incentives to change the behavior of people who are the proximate cause of the problem.
As a weakest link public good we need coordinated government action at a city, county, state, national and international level.
Slide 24: A comprehensive biosecurity framework includes:
- Pre-border measures.
- .Border control systems to prevent entry of unwanted organisms.
- An emergency response system to incursions.
- A surveillance system for detecting unwanted organisms that have entered the country.
- .An integrated national, regional, state and county level invasive species management system for invasive that have become established.
But are we prepared or willing to undertake the 9/11 scale response needed to address the invasive pecies crises?
For more information about this presentation, contact: mharte@coas.oregonstate.edu