The European Commission has proposed new legislation to prevent and manage the growing threat posed by invasive species that are alien to the natural environment in the EU.
The proposal centres round a list of invasive alien species of Union concern, which will be drawn up with the Member States using risk assessments and scientific evidence. Selected species will be banned from the EU, meaning it will not be possible to import, buy, use, release or sell them. Special measures will be taken to deal with issues arising for traders, breeders or pet owners in the transitional period.
Three types of intervention are proposed: prevention; early warning and rapid response; and management of established invasive alien species of concern.
The Commission intends that the proposal will encourage a shift towards a harmonised and more preventive approach, increasing efficiency and lowering damage costs and the cost of action over time.
The proposed Regulation will now be examined by the Council and the Parliament. Member States will be fully involved in compiling the list and can propose candidates for listing. The regime will be coupled with an information support mechanism: the European Alien Species Information Network.
LIFE and invasive species
The LIFE programme has played and will continue to play an important role in the fight against IAS in Europe. A recent Platform Meeting in Sweden on Invasive Alien Predators highlighted this fact and its outcomes will feed into a LIFE Focus publication on invasive species, to be published in the first half of 2014.
For further information about LIFE and IAS, download the November 2012 issue of LIFEnews,[pdf, 97kB] which is dedicated to the subject, or search the LIFE project database.
Source: Envirocentre.ie – EC Proposes New Legislation to Tackle Threat of Invasive Alien Species
