Invasive animal and plant species have cost the Australian economy around $390 billion in the past 60 years according to a new analysis from the Australian Research Centre’s (ARC) Centre of Excellence of Australian Biodiversity and Heritage and Flinders University.
In a statement, the researchers said the cost was likely to rise unless better investments, reporting and coordinated interventions were introduced.
“While feral cats are the single-most costly individual species, costs arising from the management of invasive plants proved the worst of all, costing US$151.68 billion (AUD$208.68 billion), with ryegrass (Lolium rigidum), parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus) and ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) the costliest culprits,” the researchers said.
“Invasive mammals and insects were the next biggest burdens, costing the country US$48.63 billion (AUD$66.26 billion) and US$11.95 billion (AUD$16.28 billion) respectively, with cats, European rabbits and red imported fire ants the three costliest species,” they said.
They said the analysis also looked at how much each State or Territory had spent to tackle invasive species.
According to the researchers, aside from costs not clearly attributed to a particular region, New South Wales had the highest costs, followed by Western Australia and Victoria.
Co-author of the study and Research Scientist with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Andrew Hoskins said it was important to understand the full breadth of the problem, to help prioritise future research and inform policy decisions.
“We captured species not previously detailed in any other nationwide study of the economic burden of invasives, providing us with the most up-to-date picture of the cost of such species to our country,” Dr Hoskins said.
“This research shows that invasive species are causing serious and growing harm to our ecological, agricultural and economic systems,” he said.
Dr Hoskins said the analysis also considered the estimated costs of five native species groups, as they were often deemed ‘pest’ species due to their overabundance and tendency to damage crops, livestock, or farmland.
He said that together, kangaroos, koalas and wombats only accounted for 2.4 to three per cent of the costs, with kangaroos alone almost completely responsible for those costs.
Lead researcher and Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology at Flinders University, Corey Bradshaw said Australia had a long history of invasive species and their impact was far-reaching, not only for native animals and the environment, but across the agricultural and health sectors as well.
The 40-page ARC and Flinders University study can be accessed on NeoBiota, an open-access journal here
Credit - PS News.com.au
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