Abstract
South Africa has committed to producing a National Status Report on Biological Invasions by October 2017 and thereafter every three years. This will be the first status report at a national level specifically on biological invasions. As part of soliciting input, a workshop was held in May 2016 that led to this special issue of 19 papers in the journal Bothalia: African Biodiversity and Conservation. This editorial introduces the symposium, discusses the special issue and summarises how each contribution provides an estimate of ‘status’. Papers focus on key pathways, taxa, areas, and evaluations of interventions, specifically the movement of taxa between South Africa and neighbouring countries; the dispersal pathways of amphibians; a review of alien animals; a report on changes in the number and abundance of alien plants; in-depth reviews of the status of invasions for cacti, fishes, fungi and grasses; an assessment of the impact of widespread invasive plants on animals; reviews on invasions in municipalities, protected areas and subAntarctic Islands; assessments of the efficacy of biological control and other control programmes; and recommendations for how to deal with conflict species, to conduct scientific assessments and to improve risk assessments. The papers in this special issue confirm that South Africa is an excellent place to study invasions that can provide insights for understanding and managing invasions in other countries. Negative impacts seem to be largely precipitated by certain taxa (especially plants), whereas invasions by a number of other groups do not, yet, seem to have caused the widespread negative impacts felt in other countries. Although South Africa has effectively managed a few biological invasions (e.g. highly successful biological control of some invasive plants), the key challenge seems to be to establish and maintain a strong link between implementation, monitoring, reporting and planning.
Highlights
The state of a nation’s health, wealth and happiness is measured by a wide variety of indicators
Note: This paper was initially delivered at the 43rd Annual Research Symposium on the Management of Biological Invasions in South Africa, Goudini Spa, Western Cape, South Africa on 18-20 May 2016
The ‘43rd Annual Research Symposium on the Management of Biological Invasions in South Africa’ was somewhat of a departure from previous versions of this meeting, these meetings have always provided valuable opportunities to network and engage, and should remain a cornerstone in South Africa’s efforts to improve our understanding of biological invasions and their management. It remains to be seen whether such meetings would be more productive and cohesive if they were to revert to concentrating on alien plants or whether a wider remit of biological invasions would be more valuable
Summary
The state of a nation’s health, wealth and happiness is measured by a wide variety of indicators. Such background information is essential for policy-makers. South Africa has committed to several international environmental agreements, and to achieve their goals it has developed national policy frameworks and legislation to manage biodiversity loss. Driver et al 2012) These includesections on the impact of the drivers of global change, biological invasions have not been a core focus of the reports. Section 11(1)(a)(iii) of the regulations mandates the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) to submit a report on the status of biological invasions. Note: This paper was initially delivered at the 43rd Annual Research Symposium on the Management of Biological Invasions in South Africa, Goudini Spa, Western Cape, South Africa on 18-20 May 2016
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
