Climate change, invasive alien species, habitat conversion and fragmentation, deforestation, human settlement, globalised trade and pollution all these changes are suffocating the ecosystems and marginalizing the native species throughout the world. Those alien species that become established in a new environment then proliferate and spread in ways that are destructive to human interests and natural systems are considered as Invasive Alien Species (IAS). IAS is characterized by one or more of the following traits: rapid growth rate, large reproductive output, efficient dispersal capabilities and tolerance of a broad range of environmental conditions.
Forest Invasive Species (FIS) are of direct relevance to the forestry sector. Many of the plant and insect species intentionally introduced in various countries in the past have become major threats to the forest biodiversity and their control measures consume substantial financial resources. A few countries have formulated/are formulating strategies and establishing institutions to exclusively deal with FIS.
In our country, the State Forest Departments (SFDs) concerned are responsible for management of weeds which encompasses a task of stupendous magnitude and consumes major chunk of funds allocated to the forestry sector. Presently, no coordinated efforts are being made to prevent introduction of FIS, their early detection and rapid response to manage the same. Given the challenges that are arising in forest areas due to FIS, re-orienting the research priorities and strengthening of forestry research organizations is required.
Realizing this serious threat to forest ecosystems, the Asia Pacific Forestry Commission (APFC) has formally launched a 'Asia Pacific Forest Invasive Species Network' (APFISN) at the 20th session of the APFC held at Nadi, Fiji, from April 17-21, 2004 with the following objectives;
The highest priority activities identified by the member countries include preparation of reports for stocktaking of national activities on FIS, awareness raising, capacity building, database and information sharing and organizational structure to support the network. 32 Asia Pacific countries are members of the network. So far the network has organized two technical capacity building workshops launched a website under the APFC, finalized a format for country reports on stocktaking of national activities and published brochures (http://www.apfcweb.org/invasive.html).
In the India Country Report on 'Stocktaking of National Activities on FIS' submitted to the APFISN during October 2005, 61 species of plants (including 12 species of fungi) and 14 species of insects have been identified as invasive having national distribution and 36 species having regional distribution. About 28 species have been reported to be native to India but have taken invasive proportions in other bio-geographical regions of the country. There is need to have a detailed scientific inventory of the FIS in India.
(A K. Goyal)
DIG (RT) & Focal Point APFISN
Thursday, November 17, 2005