Invasive Species: Impacts, Challenges, and Strategies for Management
Event Details
March 7, 2012
Invasive species pose significant economic, management, and policy challenges. Policymakers and managers must choose what strategies to employ and how much to invest to prevent new introductions, monitor for new invasions, and control established invaders. These decisions hinge on a variety of factors, including the magnitude of the damages caused by invasive species, the regions impacted, control methods available, and institutional context. It is difficult to quantify or value damages, however, and the spread of biological invasions can lead to increasing damages over time in ways that evade accurate prediction. Invasive species also can advance across political or jurisdictional boundaries, requiring coordination among multiple entities, exacerbating the difficulties of control.
At this RFF First Wednesday Seminar, panelists tackled these issues from a variety of perspectives, including examination of recent efforts to quantify the impacts of invasive species on the Great Lakes ecosystem, discussion of cost-efficient strategies to manage new and established invaders, and exploration of how cross-jurisdictional spread of invasive species hinders management. A global perspective was provided in an overview of the US State Department’s engagement on these issues, and novel approaches for combating invasive species through market creation were discussed. The seminar engaged expert panelists to help forge insight to improved management and new strategies for reducing the enormous economic and ecological impacts of invasive species.
Introduction
Jim Boyd, Director, Co-Director, RFF Center for the Management of Ecological Wealth
Moderator:
Becky Epanchin-Niell, Fellow, Resources for the Future
Download Presentation (PDF)
Panelists:
Roger Cooke, Chauncey Starr Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future
Download Presentation (PDF)
Becky Epanchin-Niell, Fellow, Resources for the Future
Adrianna Muir, Foreign Affairs Officer, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Ocean and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs
Download Presentation (PDF)
Jason Goldberg, Fish and Wildlife Biologist, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Branch of Aquatic Invasive Species
Download Presentation (PDF)
