Honolulu challenge – action on invasive alien species
At the 2016 IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) World Conservation Congress in Honolulu (Hawaii), the Union and the host country have called for greater action to address invasive alien species for the protection of biodiversity and human wellbeing. The Union has listed 11 main focus points needed:
- Multiply efforts to develop and enact effective biosecurity policies and programmes for countries and islands,
- Enforce effective measures to address priority pathways of invasions, including efforts to strengthen collaboration with relevant sectors in particular agriculture and health,
- Greatly increase the number and scale of invasive alien species eradications, especially on islands and in other priority sites; by 2020 there shall be a doubling of commitments to achieve this goal,
- Substantially increase resources for invasive alien species management and control,
- Integrate invasive alien species into planning and management for protected areas and key biodiversity areas,
- Invest in the development, application and sharing of innovative technologies, and other solutions to prevent further invasions, and eradicate or control invasive alien species,
- Institutionalise invasive alien species programmes across government ministries, cooperating with the private sector, NGOs, indigenous peoples and local communities, and other stakeholders on programme implementation,
- Support assessments on the social and economic impacts of invasive alien species,
- Engage with relevant sectors and civil society to raise awareness of the negative impacts of invasive alien species, including the compounded impacts under climate change, and increase public support for potential solutions,
- Work with public and private financial institutions to increase international financial flows and mobilise domestic resources for addressing biological invasions,
- Enable enhanced knowledge on invasive alien species, their impacts and pathways of invasion, through investment in data collection, standardization, sharing and open access.
Sources
IUCN website:
https://www.iucn.org/theme/species/our-work/invasive-species/honolulu-challenge-invasive-alien-species/commitments