Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Any containment programme designed to operate at a fairly large scale is likely to
require the following activities on an on-going basis:
Reliable identifi cation of the target species.
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Effort to detect the invasive species, with that effort being focused on areas
outside the area to which the programme is intended to contain it.
Reporting of occurrences in order to be able to undertake control measures
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and to document progress of the programme.
Development of appropriate policies in relation to the invasive species and its
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management; and the means to implement those policies.
Regulations relating to the invasive species, its cultivation, transport, and con-
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trol, and policing of those regulations.
Provision of suitable resources and direction of those resources to locations/
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stakeholders in a manner consistent with the specifi c objectives of the con-
tainment strategy; a containment strategy requires decisions about how the
costs of containment will be distributed amongst the various stakeholders.
Education and extension to indicate the need for, approach to, and progress
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of the containment programme.
On-ground activity targeted to use the available resources most effectively to
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eliminate the invasive species from areas outside the containment zone and
reduce the risk of dispersal beyond it.
Research to develop appropriate detection, management, and monitoring
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techniques.
Monitoring of progress that can provide feedback to improve the contain-
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ment programme or inform decisions about changes of strategic direction.
Coordination of government agencies, community groups, researchers, land
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managers, and other stakeholders, including exacerbators.
Where neither eradication nor containment of an invasive species is possible,
the only options are to control or to do nothing. The decision about whether to
attempt control or not will depend on:
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The importance of the impacts that the invasive species has, or is perceived to
have, relative to the likely costs of control.
The stage to which the invasion has progressed.
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The availability of control measures.
Clearly, if no eff ective control measures are available, control cannot be
attempted. To use ineff ective control techniques under such circumstances would
be a waste of resources.
h e impacts of an invasive species may be ecological, economic, and/or social,
and those impacts may be positive or negative. h ere are many cases in which