![]() ![]() We know climate change is worsening, we know that land and sea-use change is worsening and therefore we anticipate that the threat posed by invasive alien species will also worsen,” Roy said.Īn aedes aegypti mosquito is displayed under a microscope at the National Environmental Agency's mosquito production facility in Singapore August 19, 2020. “We know that things aren’t remaining unchanged. Without intervention to prevent their spread and impact, the total number of invasive species globally will be one-third higher in 2050 than it was in 2005, the scientists say. ![]() That figure is “a huge, huge underestimate… it’s the tip of the iceberg,” said ecologist Helen Roy, co-author of the UN Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report. The global economic cost is tremendous, scientists say, having at least quadrupled every decade since 1970. Of 37,000 alien species known to have been introduced around the world, 3,500 are considered harmful and pose a “severe global threat” by destroying crops, wiping out native species, polluting waterways, spreading disease and laying the groundwork for devastating natural disasters. Human activity – often through travel or global trade – is spreading these animals, plants and other organisms in new regions at an “unprecedented rate,” with 200 new alien species being recorded every year, leading scientists said. Invasive species cost the world at least $423 billion every year as they drive plant and animal extinctions, threaten food security and exacerbate environmental catastrophes across the globe, a major new United Nations-backed report has found. ![]()
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