Aliens - ISSG

the development of indicators of biological invasions,
and the production of an awareness raising report titled
Communicating on environmental and socio-economic
impacts of invasive alien species in Europe.
The ISSG is continuing with the long tradition of cooperation
with the Bern Convention. and The two organizations
co-organised a meeting in Rome, held last
on the 15th-16th March, to discuss the ongoing lines
areas of cooperation. These that include the development
of several codes of conduct and guidelines:
including on zoos and aquaria (in cooperation with
the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria); and,
on invasives and hunting (in cooperation with the European
Federation of Hunting Association). ISSG is
also working at on developing guidelines for the management
of invasive species in Europe, in cooperation
with several organizations, including the IUCN
World Commission on Protected Areas.
Rio+20
Planet Under Pressure 2012 was the largest gathering
of global change scientists leading up to the
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
(Rio+20) with a total of 3,018 delegates at
the conference venue and over 3,500 that attended
virtually via live web-streaming. The first State Of
The Planet Declaration was issued at the conference.
Following the conference and declaration several
ISSG members were concerned with the limited
attention being paid to the issue of biological invasions
and invasive alien species in the Rio+20 processes.
Members proposed the development and
submission of a policy paper highlighting the growing
threat of biological invasions on biodiversity,
human health and food security for the Rio+20 process.
After extensive consultation with the membership,
the ISSG with the IUCN’s ISI developed and
submitted a policy brief related to biological invasions
and invasive alien species to the IUCN. This
brief will be included in the IUCN documentation
for Rio+20 and text be reflected in the umbrella position
paper (which will form the basis of IUCN’s
statement to the Rio+20 conference). http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/policy_brief_in_invasive_an
d_alien_species_final.pdf
ISSG Information Services
The restructure and revision of the Global Invasive
Species Database is well under way and will
conclude in the third quarter of 2012. The revised
GISD includes a revised and comprehensive framework
for recording information on species expansion
and pathways of spread and impact mechanisms
and outcomes; a framework for developing
a Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species
(GRIIS); better search functionality and userfriendly
and interactive interface.
The Island Biodiversity and Invasive Species Database
(IBIS) is in its final iteration of revisions and
version 2012.3 will be online by the end of July
2012.
Improved links between the IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species and the GISD - Work is ongoing
to develop reciprocal links between the GISD
and the IUCN Red List including enhancing information
on the impacts of invasive species on threatened
species.
The IUCN recently published ‘IUCN Knowledge
Products- The basis for a partnership to support
the functions and work programme of IPBES’
(http://data.iucn.org/dbtw-wpd/edocs/2012-
015.pdf). It was prepared for the second session of
the plenary meeting on the Intergovernmental science-policy
Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem
Services (IPBES), on 16-21 April 2012, in Panamá
City, Panamá. IUCN offered these knowledge
products to IPBES as a contribution to establishing
a firm strategic partnership support the developing
of the IPBES work-plan and thereby deliver
crucial information for decision-makers. Knowledge
products included the IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species, Protected Planet (including the
World Database on Protected Areas WDPA, the
IUCN Red List of Ecosystems among others. The
GISD was featured in this publication as well as the
IBIS database as an emerging knowledge product.
For more information: The ISSG now hosts the Database
of Island Invasive Species Eradications
(DIISE) a centralized database covering all of the
recorded invasive vertebrate eradications on islands
and an important tool in helping improve the quality
of eradications. The DIISE (http://eradicationsdb.fos.auckland.ac.nz/)
was developed by Island
Conservation, the Coastal Conservation Lab,
University of California Santa Cruz, in partnership
with the ISSG, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research
New Zealand and the University of Auckland.
The ISSG was awarded a consultancy by the Secretariat
of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory
Species of Wild Animals (CMS) to ‘Undertake
a review of the nature and extent of the impact
of invasive species on migratory species,
with particular emphasis on those listed on the
CMS Appendices’ during 2012.
Upcoming events in which the Secretariat will be
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