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The yield losses attributed to Asian citrus greening disease once established can be devastating. If the disease continues to spread unabated in the citrus growing regions of East Africa, the annual value of lost production could potentially reach up to US $127 million over the next ten to 15 years, according to a recent paper published by CABI. The paper, The Asian Citrus Greening Disease (Huanglongbing): Evidence Note on Invasiveness and Potential Economic Impacts for East Africa (Jun 2021) [PDF, 2.9 MB], provides a review of the global literature on Asian citrus disease or huanglongbing (HLB) and estimates its potential economic impact on East Africa. The paper also makes recommendations for biosecurity preparedness, surveillance and management options to help decision-makers and citrus growers.

The Invasive Species Programme (ISP) aims to detect invasive species; assess the risk these species pose to South Africa and attempt eradication of high risk species with limited distribution.

The FAO Forestry Department Working Papers report on issues and activities related to the conservation, sustainable use and management of forest resources. The purpose of these papers is to provide early information on on-going activities and programmes, and to stimulate discussion. This paper is one of a series of FAO documents on forestry-related biosecurity issues.

At its triennial Review Conference of Member Countries in Egham, UK, on 26-27 July, CABI launched a major new initiative to protect vulnerable rural communities in the fight against invasive alien species. Building on its 100-year track record in invasive species management, CABI will deliver a unique global programme to support 50 million vulnerable African and Asian farming families impacted by species that are out of control and threatening their livelihoods. This will link with, and build upon, the highly successful CABI-led Plantwise programme, which has already reached nearly 5 million farmers in 34 countries. Over the coming months and years, CABI will focus on tackling some of the worst alien invaders in Africa and Asia - weeds, insects and diseases that devastate crops and pastureland, as well as deplete the many natural resources on which rural communities rely.

The CIB is an inter-institutional Centre of Excellence established in 2004 within the DSI-NRF Centres of Excellence Programme. Its members undertake research on the biodiversity consequences of biological invasions, largely through post-graduate student training. The principal aims of the Centre’s work are to reduce the rates and impacts of biological invasions by furthering scientific understanding and predictive capability, and by developing research capacity.

Invasive species can have severe impacts on ecosystems, economies, and human health. Though the economic impacts of invasions provide important foundations for management and policy, up-to-date syntheses of these impacts are lacking. To produce the most comprehensive estimate of invasive species costs within North America (including the Greater Antilles) to date, we synthesized economic impact data from the recently published InvaCost database (see related research article: InvaCost, a public database of the economic costs of biological invasions worldwide (Sep 8, 2020).
See also: This article is part of NeoBiota 67: The economic costs of biological invasions around the world.

See also: EPPO Alert List