2454 final report.pdf - Agra CEAS Consulting

Evaluation of the Community Plant Health Regime: Final Report
DG SANCO Evaluation Framework Contract Lot 3 (Food Chain)
Previous studies have pointed to the difficulty of estimating the economic impact of IAS on EU
ecosystems and adjacent sectors, for which reliable data have been notably scarce or unavailable.
In general, most economic research has focused on ex ante and ex post assessments of IAS costs
or on cost and benefit calculations of relevant prevention, control or eradication programmes,
and there are few well-documented studies, with most of them investigating cases where the
monetary value of the impact can be calculated (e.g. impact of single species in specific areas,
where the assessment of control costs and economic losses in relatively well-defined systems is
feasible) 75 .
Assessing the potential threat posed by IAS is complicated by the fact that, in some cases, it may
take years before an alien organism (i.e. previously not found in the EU) becomes harmful and
invasive, and there may also be cases where this never happens. Furthermore, the situation and
patterns of invasiveness of a specific organism can differ significantly from MS to MS, making it
difficult to extrapolate from individual MS or regional experiences, but also to foster a
harmonised approach on each potentially invasive alien species across the EU.
As was pointed out by a 2008 study for the EEA 76 an indicator of the increasing importance
attached to IAS in the EU is the significant increase in the funding provided for research in this
field. Over the last 15 years, despite the lack of a specific strategy or a dedicated financial
instrument to deal with IAS, the EC has contributed to financing almost 300 projects addressing
this issue, for a total budget exceeding €132 million 77 . It is also noted that between 1992 and
2006, the average annual budget spent for IAS issues has been about €10 million /year, but in the
period 2004-2006 it increased to €15 million /year. Further initiatives on IAS action are currently
being examined, including the feasibility of establishing an early warning and information
system to cover the entire EU 78 .
3.1.2.5 Conclusions
There is currently lack of common understanding, leading to considerable confusion, on both the
definition of Invasive Alien Species (IAS) and the extent to which IAS are covered by the scope
of the Directive. The defining characteristic of IAS, according to the CBD definition, is their
wider environmental impact on ecosystems. Historically, this has been considered as an indirect
impact for the purposes of Directive 2000/29, but in recent years there has been a de facto shift
in implementation, due to major pest incursions with significant indirect, non-commercial or
purely environmental impacts. In practice, many regulated pests are IAS already listed in the
Directive (recent examples including Anoplophora spp., Phytophthora Ramorum, also PWN).
There have also been international developments in considering IAS at the level of IPPC and
75
Gren I-M (2008).
76
EU funding for management and research of invasive alien species in Europe, May 2008.
77 Figures based on projects funded under two specific EU financial tools: LIFE and the RTD Framework
Programmes. The contribution of the two programmes has been characterised by an overall positive trend over the
years, in terms of both the number of projects and the budget spent.
78 Study undertaken for the European Environment Agency (EEA). Genovesi P. et al (2009).
Food Chain Evaluation Consortium 59