BirdLife Europe has published a  leaflet to increase awareness about invasive alien species in the 27 EU Member States and to promote the importance of adopting appropriate legislation in Brussels.

Invasive alien species are non-native species that establish, spread and cause harm to native biodiversity, ecosystems, socioeconomic interests or human health. One of the principal causes of biodiversity loss; they have been partly or wholly responsible for the extinction of at least 68 bird species over the last 500 years.
Despite this, there is no instrument at EU level dedicated to tackling invasive alien species, and provisions that do currently exist are both inadequate and difficult to put into practice. National measures vary enormously between Member States, with little or no harmonisation. A coordinated EU-wide strategy to tackle invasive alien species is urgently needed.

The new leaflet sets out BirdLife Europe’s proposal for EU legislation to tackle the problem through:

• Prevention, by adoption of white/black lists of invasive alien species
• Identifying and dealing with priority pathways for invasive alien species
• Applying risk assessment based approaches
• Developing early warning and rapid response mechanisms
• Containing, controlling and eradicating invasive alien species and restoring affected ecosystems
• Financing mechanisms to support these measures

The new leaflet is available for download:  Invasive Alien Species leaflet 2011  

The European Commission is expected to publish its proposal for a new EU Strategy on invasive alien species in November 2011.