South Africa’s first National Status Report on Biological Invasions

2

Overview on programme of work

Programme plan (activities, milestones, challenges

and timeframes)

3

Monitoring and evaluation

Basic inventory and ecological

research

Assess implications and formulate

appropriate policy

Set goals and implement

management measures

b)

Monitoring and evaluation

Basic inventory and ecological

research

Assess implications and formulate

appropriate policy

Set goals and implement

management measures

Status Report

Why a status report?

4

The Institute [i.e. SANBI] …….. must ….. submit a report on the status of listed invasive species ……. within three

years after these regulations come into effect, and every three years thereafter

The report …. must contain a summary and assessment of:

the status of listed invasive species; and

the effectiveness of these regulations and control measures

Legal requirement

This is a team effort…….

5

Invasion Symposium, 2016

Drafting team

6

Appointment of SANBI/ C•I•B team

Bob Scholes WITS

David Richardson C I B

Christo Marais DEA

Mapula Tshangela DEA

Guy Preston DEA

Peter Lukey DEA

Wadzi Mandivenyi DEA

Bob Scholes WITS

David Richardson C I B

Christo Marais DEA

Mapula Tshangela DEA

Guy Preston DEA

Peter Lukey DEA

Wadzi Mandivenyi DEA

Reference and Advisory committee

20

16

7

Appointment of SANBI/ C•I•B team

Review and collate available information

Arrange scientific symposium

Identify specialist collaborators

Develop suite of indicators

Assign values to indicators

Final status report

First draft chapters

Peer review by stakeholders and contributing authors

Review by expert group

October 2017

20

17

2

01

6

First draft status report

8

Wilson et al. in prep. 9

21 indicators

Hierarchical metrics

Confidence levels

Factsheets

Proposed indicators - status of biological invasions

4 high-level indicators (for DEA reports to parliament)

Level of success in managing invasions

Amount of area that suffers major impacts

Rates of introduction

Number of invasive species with major impacts

10

Status of pathways in South Africa

Indicator Value Level of confidence

Introduction pathway prominence

Moderate

Rate of introduction per pathway

Low

Within-country pathway prominence

? ?

Within-country dispersal rates ? ?

11

Key findings for status of pathways

12

• Pathway and date of introduction data were not available for many alien taxa in South Africa.

• Intentional import of alien taxa is increasing with growing trade.

• Number of introductions is likely to increase in the future.

• Better information required to identify and prioritise pathways and to develop and evaluate control measures.

Indicators of alien species status

Indicator Value Level of confidence

Number and status of alien species

High for plants, birds Low for the rest

Extent of alien species High for plants, birds Low for the rest

Abundance of alien species ? Low?

Impact of alien species ? Low

13

Key findings for status of species

14

• Good data on distribution of terrestrial plants, birds, amphibians and reptiles, but not the rest.

• Remarkable dearth of studies on impacts of individual invasive alien species.

• For alien plants at least, South Africa has a major invasion debt. Many new species arriving, and large increases in invaded area. This is a major cause for concern.

Indicator Value Level of confidence

Alien species richness High for plants and birds

Relative alien species richness ? High to low

Relative alien species abundance

? Low

Impacts of invasions Moderate ??

15

Indicators of invaded areas

Key findings for status of invaded areas

• Low confidence in invaded area estimates, due to the current state of data.

• Impacts are set to grow rapidly as invasive alien species enter a phase of exponential growth.

16

Indicator Value Value Level of confidence

Inp

uts

Quality of regulatory framework High

Government Expenditure ? ?

Planning Coverage High

17

Interventions

Ou

tpu

ts

Pathways treatment Low

Species treated ?

Areas treated Moderate

Indicator Value Value Level of confidence

Ou

tco

mes

Effectiveness of the pathways treatment

? ?

Effectiveness of the species treatment

Low

Effectiveness of the areas treatment

Low

18

Interventions

19

Thank you