Guiding action on invasive alien species towards meeting the EU's Biodiversity Strategy for 2030

By

Jiménez, Randall R.
Smith, Kevin G.
Brooks, Thomas (Thomas M.)
Scalera, Riccardo
Mair, Louise
Nunes, Ana L.
Costello, Katie E.
Macfarlane, Nicholas B. W.

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2025-6-12

Original Publication

NeoBiota : advancing research on alien species and biological invasions

Volume

99

Pages

109--129

Subjects

conservation biology , red list , species management , STAR metric , threatened species

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sophia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.99.148323

 

Abstract

Invasive alien species (IAS) are a major threat to global biodiversity. The total cost of biological invasions across all European Union member states has been estimated at 129.9 billion US dollars between 1960 and 2020. It is, therefore, crucial to implement effective measures for IAS management. In Europe, the overarching mechanism for this is established through the European Union (EU) Biodiversity Strategy 2030, which aims to halve the number of Red List species threatened by IAS by 2030, namely by stepping up the implementation of the EUIAS Regulation. To support the implementation of the strategy, we use the Species Threat Abatement and Restoration (STAR) methodology to identify and quantify opportunities to reduce species extinction risk in the EU by managing invasive alien species (IAS), focusing specifically on its threat abatement component (STAR-t). Using data from the European Red List on extinction risk, threats and distribution for terrestrial and freshwater species groups (both animals and plants) threatened by IAS, we identified key geographic areas and species for intervention. The countries and territories providing the largest opportunities to contribute towards reducing EU species extinction risk through managing IAS are the Canary Islands [Spain] (20.8% of total EUSTAR-t attributed to IAS), Madeira [Portugal] (14.2%), mainland Spain (11.9%), Italy (9.3%), Azores [Portugal] (5.4%) and Greece (5.3%). For specific IAS, the greatest opportunities to reduce regional species extinction risk by mitigating threats from IAS come from managing feral goats (12.4%), mouflons (8.1%), rabbits (5.3%) and rats (4.6%). This work showcases the first application of STAR at a regional scale to measure opportunities for threat abatement caused by IAS and provides practical application in guiding the management actions with the highest conservation gains towards the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030.