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Sources of invasive species information in the South Pacific

Maj De Poorter

Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), IUCN; Centre for Invasive Species Research, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

This paper lists organizations, programmes and resources that provide sources of information on invasive alien species in the South Pacific region. The list includes the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, CAB International's Crop Protection Compendium, the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme, Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk project, Global Invasive Species Programme, Invasive Species Specialist Group and its Global Invasive Species Database, as well as two listservers (Aliens-L and PestNet).

Introduction

• Availability of information is a key requirement for management of invasive alien species. In the South Pacific, some generic challenges are faced with regards to biodiversity information, including:
• insufficient information on species biology and distributions (not only invasive alien species but also native species) at an island-to-island scale
• poor access to information
• poor communication within and outside the region.

List of information sources

The following organizations, programmes and resources provide sources of information on invasive alien species in the South Pacific region. The nature of the information is listed below each heading and specialist areas are indicated.

Secretariat of the Pacific Community

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) offers:

• technical advice

• training, resourcing, fact sheets, newsletter, posters

• a focus on agricultural pests

• a list of all pests that have been found on any particular crop

• the Pest List Database for the Pacific, which includes records of pest occurrences within a country, a list of pest hosts and which can be used by quarantine services for keeping record of pest interceptions at ports and airports.

The SPC Web site is at www.spc.int.

CABI Crop Protection Compendium

CAB International publishes a global compilation of information, the Crop Protection Compendium, which provides:

• information on crops, countries, pests, diseases and weeds and their natural enemies
• global coverage, agricultural focus
• compact disc or Internet versions. The Crop Protection Compendium Web site is at www.cabi.org/compendia/cpc.

South Pacific Regional Environment Programme

The South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) offers:

• a range of general services:

  library and information services
  legal advice
  training support
  education programmes and publication advice
  a Web site (www.sprep.org.ws) and newsletter

• a series of specific programmes and projects.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk project

The Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) project provides:

• information on invasive plants that threaten Pacific ecosystems
• CD-ROM and Internet versions
• freely available information.

The Web site is at www.hear.org/pier.

GISP publications

The Global Invasive Species Programme has produced the following publications relating to invasive species:

Lowe, S.J., Browne, M., Boudjelas, S. & De Poorter, M. 2000. 100 of the world's worst invasive alien species: A selection from the Global Invasive Species Database. Auckland, New Zealand, IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG). 12 pp (available at www.issg.org).

McNeely, J.A., ed. 2001. The great reshuffling: human dimensions of invasive alien species. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK, IUCN. vi + 242 pp.

McNeely, J.A., Mooney, H.A., Neville, L.E., Schei, P.J. & Waage, J.K., eds. 2001. A global strategy on invasive alien species. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK, IUCN in collaboration with the Global Invasive Species Programme. x + 50 pp.

Mooney, H.A. & Hobbs, R.J., eds. 2000. Invasive species in a changing world. Washington, D.C., USA, Island Press. 384 pp.

Perrings, C., Williamson, M. & Dalmazzone, S., eds. 2000. The economics of biological invasions. Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar Publishing. vi + 249 pp.

Shine, C., Williams, N. & Gündling, L. 2000. A guide to designing legal and institutional frameworks on alien invasive species. IUCN Environmental Policy and Law Paper No. 40. Gland, Switzerland, Cambridge and Bonn, IUCN. xvi + 138 pp (hardcopies of this publication are available in English, French and Spanish; also as document UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/6/INF/8, available at www.biodiv.org).

Wittenberg, R. & Cock, M.J.W., eds. 2001. Invasive alien species: a toolkit of best prevention and management practices. Wallingford, Oxon, UK, CAB International. xvii + 228 pp (available at www.gisp.org).

IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group

The ISSG is a specialist group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission with more than 140 experts from 42 countries. Activities include:

• the cooperative Initiative on invasive alien species on islands project
• the Global Invasive Species Database (see below).

The Web site is www.issg.org.

Global Invasive Species Database

The goals of the Global Invasive Species Database are to raise awareness about invasive alien species by providing easy access to authoritative information and to facilitate effective prevention and management of invasive species problems by disseminating specialist's knowledge and experience globally. The database was developed by the ISSG as part of the global initiative on invasive species led by the Global Invasive Species Programme. Development of the database followed extensive consultation and user analysis beginning in 1998.

The developers of the database are building a global picture of the invasive species issue by capturing and displaying the results of work being done by individuals and in programmes all over the world. The core information elements in the Global Invasive Species Database include:

• taxonomy, names, descriptions, images to help identify invasive species
• distribution records describing where the species occurs
• impacts describing what effect the species has there
• pathways and vectors describing how and why the species was introduced
• prevention and management information to describe how to deal with the species
• contacts details of specialists for advice.

Each species profile in the database contains links back to local, national and regional resources where more detailed and locally specific information can be found. Users can search the database by scientific, common name or synonym, country or location, life form, habitat type or by any combination of these. A taxonomic search is also available. The database is being populated with species profiles and distribution records on an ongoing basis and a CD-ROM will be distributed when funding permits. The Global Invasive Species Database is available at www.issg.org/database.

Aliens-L

Aliens-L is a listserver dedicated to information on invasive alien species and related issues. Its focus is on environmental invasive species. There are around 600 subscribers.

It is possible to make use of Aliens-L without subscribing to it. A searchable archive is available at cain.nbii.gov/cgi-bin/aliens-l.cgi.

To subscribe to the listserver, send an e-mail without a subject header but with the message "subscribe to Aliens-L" to [email protected] or [email protected].

PestNet

PestNet is a moderated listserver with some 390 members. Its goal is plant protection in the Pacific Island countries. PestNet offers:

• information on pests, diseases and weeds and their control
• alerts on new incursions
• species identification.

PestNet's coverage is the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia. To post a message, mail to [email protected]. To subscribe, mail to [email protected].

Acknowledgement

This paper incorporates information prepared by Dr Souad Boudjelas, Invasive Species Specialist Group (IUCN), Auckland, for the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme invasive alien species training module on information. It was presented at the workshop in Braunschweig by Dr Maj De Poorter.