Syllabus: GS3/Environment
In News
- A recent study found that the greatest impacts of invasive alien species on biodiversity are in the Global South, where rapid development, weak governance and limited management capacity make ecosystems more vulnerable.
Invasive Alien Species
- They are plants, animals, pathogens and other organisms that are non-native to an ecosystem and which may cause economic or environmental harm or adversely affect human health.
- They compete with, prey on, or transmit diseases to native species, threatening biodiversity.
Do you know?
- According to the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, amended in 2022, invasive alien species (IAS) are non-native plants or animals that pose a threat to the biodiversity of India through their introduction or spread. But this definition is too narrow.
- It does not cover the case of native Indian species which become invasive in parts.
- The chital or spotted deer, for example, is protected on the mainland but has become ecologically damaging in the Andaman Islands.
Significance and Multidimensional Linkages
- Ecological: IAS drive native species extinction through predation, competition and habitat alteration. For ex: Lantana camara has altered forest understorey composition across Indian protected areas including Bandipur and Corbett.
- Economic: Agricultural losses from invasive pests and weeds threaten food security in economies dependent on smallholder farming. Fall armyworm caused significant maize losses across Africa and India after its introduction.
- Health: Invasive vectors such as Aedes mosquitoes expand the geographic range of dengue and Zika, linking biodiversity governance to public health security.
- Water security: Aquatic invasives like water hyacinth choke water bodies, affecting irrigation, fisheries and hydropower. For ex: Loktak Lake in Manipur faces recurring water hyacinth infestation.
- Strategic and trade dimension: Global supply chains and shipping ballast water are major transmission vectors, making IAS management a cross-border governance issue rather than a purely domestic one.
Challenges
- Fragmented institutional responsibility across environment, agriculture, trade and customs ministries weakens coordinated response.
- Poor baseline biodiversity data in developing countries delays early detection.
- Financial constraints limit long term eradication and restoration programmes, which are costlier than prevention.
- Climate change is expanding suitable habitats for invasive species, compounding existing management gaps.
- Limited public awareness leads to unintentional spread through horticulture, aquarium trade and ornamental plantation.
India’s Position and Initiatives
- India is a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity and its National Biodiversity Action Plan includes IAS management as a thematic priority.
- Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and National Biodiversity Authority provide the regulatory framework, though implementation remains uneven across states.
- Forest Departments have undertaken targeted removal drives against Lantana camara and Prosopis juliflora in protected areas.
- Plant Quarantine Order, 2003 under the Ministry of Agriculture regulates import related biosecurity, though enforcement capacity at ports remains limited.
- India’s National Action Plan on Invasive Alien Species (draft stage) seeks a unified national response mechanism.
Source:PTI
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