Workshop summary: State of the art and perspectives of risk assessment analysis

Abstract

news and update ISSN 1948‐6596 workshop summary State of the art and perspectives of risk assessment analysis International workshop on methods and applications for managing biological invasions – Girona, Spain, 18th‐20th April 2011 The introduction of invasive alien species (IAS) has added an additional level of complexity in the ma‐ nagement of ecosystems (Hobbs and Humphries 1995). Given that once a non‐indigenous species is established in a new region it is extremely difficult and costly to eradicate or control, recent atten‐ tion has switched to developing risk assessment protocols that identify high‐risk situations for spe‐ cies that may become established and have a ne‐ gative impact in a new region. Risk analyses are systematic and comprehensive methodologies evaluate risks and uncertainties associated with the introduction/expansion of certain organisms, based on the magnitude of their possible adverse consequences and the likelihood of occurrence of these consequences (Pheloung et al. 1999). Risk assessment can thus be an important tool to avoid further invasions. Risk assessment protocols have initially be‐ en largely developed in those parts of the world (e.g. Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) which are hit most severely by biological invasions, but a common standard of key elements of risk assess‐ ment protocols has not emerged so far. In Europe, which has substantially lagged behind in perfor‐ ming risk analyses for alien species, this topic has recently gained importance. This was driven by the ongoing development of an EU strategy for invasive alien species (http://www.ec.europa.eu/ environment/nature/invasivealien/index_en.htm) and via EU‐funded projects such as ALARM (http://www.alarmproject.net) and DAISIE (http:// www.europe‐aliens.org). So the time was right to evaluate to what extent risk analysis protocols may really be useful in simplifying the decision‐ making process that guides EU environmental po‐ licies. The European Science Foundation (ESF) and the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) of the Government of Catalonia jointly funded a workshop on methods and applications of risk assessment analysis in ma‐ naging biological invasions, a meeting hosted in Girona, Spain (18th‐20th April 2011). This works‐ hop, which was co‐organized by Nuria Roura‐ Pascual, Ingolf Kuhn, Wolfgang Rabitsch and Da‐ niel Sol, brought together 21 of the world’s top experts on risk analysis for biological invasion, with the overarching objective to evaluate the status quo of the field and guide the development of standard protocols for setting management priorities. The participants presented and discussed key elements of existing risk assessment systems and their strengths and their weaknesses, and explored key future research needs. Several spea‐ kers presented the state of the art of fundamen‐ tals in risk assessment methods. Mark Burgman, the Director of the Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis (University of Melbourne), ope‐ ned the workshop and used the extensive Austra‐ lian experience to present fundamentals and pit‐ falls of risk assessment. David M. Richardson, the Deputy Director of the South African Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology (University of Ste‐ llenbosch), highlighted recent scientific progress achieved in identifying which aspects make spe‐ cies invasive. Brian Leung (McGill University, Cana‐ da) outlined ways of including socio‐economic assessments when analyzing the risks posed by invading species, an issue gaining increasing im‐ portance, when political decisions on IAS manage‐ ment are to be made. Daniel Sol (Centre for Ecolo‐ gical Research and Forestry Applications, Spanish National Research Council) talked about the featu‐ res that make a species a successful invader, whe‐ reas Katharina Dehnen‐Schmutz (University of Warwick, UK) highlighted the importance of horti‐ culture as an entrance pathway for alien plants. Jaakko Heikkila from MTT Agrifood Research Fin‐ land presented the results of a recent overview of current European risk analysis systems. Although objectives are similar in most cases, he found con‐ siderable differences between different approa‐ © 2011 the authors; journal compilation © 2011 The International Biogeography Society — frontiers of biogeography 3.2, 2011