InvaCost, a public database of the economic costs of biological invasions worldwide

Abstract

Biological invasions are responsible for tremendous impacts globally, including huge economic losses and management expenditures. Efficiently mitigating this major driver of global change requires the improvement of public awareness and policy regarding its substantial impacts on our socio-ecosystems. One option to contribute to this overall objective is to inform people on the economic costs linked to these impacts; however, until now, a reliable synthesis of invasion costs has never been produced at a global scale. Here, we introduce InvaCost as the most up-to-date, comprehensive, harmonised and robust compilation and description of economic cost estimates associated with biological invasions worldwide. We have developed a systematic, standardised methodology to collect information from peer-reviewed articles and grey literature, while ensuring data validity and method repeatability for further transparent inputs. Our manuscript presents the methodology and tools used to build and populate this living and publicly available database. InvaCost provides an essential basis (2419 cost estimates currently compiled) for worldwide research, management efforts and, ultimately, for data-driven and evidence-based policymaking.

Advancing One Biosecurity to Address the Pandemic Risks of Biological Invasions

“…For example, using the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Environmental Impact Classification of Alien Taxa impact framework (Blackburn et al 2014 ), data on the environmental impacts of invasive alien species were deficient for 18% of plant species (Rockwell-Postel et al 2020 ), 24% of gastropods (Kesner and Kumschick 2018 ), 61% of amphibians (Kumschick et al 2017 ), and 70% of birds (Evans et al 2016 ). Similarly, although considerable efforts have been made to collate information on the economic costs of biological invasions, contemporary data only encompass a fraction of all invasive alien species (Diagne et al 2020 ). Therefore, it is hard to forewarn the world of an impending global threat when an invasive alien species impacts have yet to be quantified (PHEIC criterion 1).…”

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)’s Post-2020 target on invasive alien species – what should it include and how should it be monitored?

“…Whatever the final Target text is, achieving the fundamental changes necessary to prevent and mitigate impacts from IAS successfully over the coming decades will require substantial efforts and resources, and the cooperation of a wide range of stakeholders. The prevention of IAS impacts by precautionary measures and early response will avoid post-invasion costs and damages that are in many cases much -often by an order of magnitudehigher (Leung et al 2002;Diagne et al 2020).…”

Invasion costs, impacts, and human agency: response to Sagoff 2020

“…2017; van Wilgen and Wilson 2018). Moreover, Diagne et al.’s (2020) estimates of global invasion costs are likely to supersede Pimentel's results. Nevertheless, vast data gaps generally observed in monetary evaluations suggest Pimentel's calculations are massively underestimated (Bradshaw et al.…”