Decision support tools for invasive alien species management should better consider principles of robust decision making

Abstract

Invasive alien species (IAS) pose global threat to economies and biodiversity. With rising number of species and limited resources, IAS management must be prioritised; yet agreed tools to assist decision–making and their application are currently inadequate. There is need for simple decision support tools (DST) that guide stakeholders to optimise investment based on objective and quantifiable criteria. This paper reviews DSTs for IAS management to assess their availability and application of principles of robust decision–making. The aim is to provide guidance towards adopting the principles of robust decision–making to improve applicability and practical use of DST. A literature search conducted to identify relevant studies that report on DST in biological invasion. Results indicate an increase in availability of DST; however, available studies are largely biased in geographical, habitat and taxonomic focus. The results also show challenges in practical use of existing tools as most of them do not apply principles of robust decision–making. Application of these principles has the potential to overcome weakness of the current decision–making process and as such, enable decision–makers to efficiently allocate resources towards IAS management. A call is made for more consideration and adoption of principles of robust decision–making when developing DST for IAS invasions.