CABI at EcoSummit 2016

CABI promoted its new invasive species initiative at this year’s EcoSummit event which took place in Montpellier, France, from 29 August – 1 September. CABI’s latest initiative aims to tackle the issue of invasive species to improve the lives of 50 million farmers in Africa and Asia. Launched in Copenhagen in 1996, the event provides…
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New European Union IAS Regulation

  Invasive alien species are a major threat worldwide, impacting upon millions of livelihoods and threatening biodiversity. The situation is worsening, due in no small part to increased global trade and transport. The economic costs of IAS can be vast: worldwide, invasive species are estimated to cost US$1.4 trillion per year – close to 5% of global…
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Invasive species: A global threat to trade and livelihoods

  A new report supports the fact that invasive species have the potential to undermine global food security and sustainable development, a vital statement supported by Goal 15 of the Sustainable Development Goals which states that we need to: introduce measures to prevent the introduction and significantly reduce the impact of invasive alien species on…
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Tackling invasive species to protect farmer incomes and livelihoods

“I have suffered [crop] losses amounting to 90%. I have no other source of income apart from tomato farming. I was relying on this crop to feed my family. I have nothing to do now other than try to think of what to do next.” Elias Kamuga, Farmer, Kenya Elias is a smallholder farmer from…
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A fifth of the world’s plants under threat, as report says 391,000 species now known to science

Dave Simpson – 11 May 2016 A ground-breaking report from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has produced an estimate of the number of plants known to science. By searching through existing databases, the researchers have estimated that there are now 390,900 known plant species, of which around 369,400 are flowering plants. But this figure is…
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Malaria incidence and invasive plants – is there a link?

3.2 billion people are still at risk of getting malaria. Although progress has been made, if we are to achieve a 90% reduction in global malaria incidence and mortality by 2030 we must do more. Controlling invasive species may be part of the solution. The path will not be easy. Mosquitoes are becoming increasingly resistant…
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New Strategy Receives Thumbs Up

This week in Douala, Cameroon, the General Assembly of the African Union’s InterAfrican Phytosanitary Council (IAPSC) gave the thumbs up to IAPSC’s new strategic plan. IAPSC Director Dr Jean Gerard Mezui M’Ella thanked all the organisation’s partners who had assisted in the preparation of the plan, especially FAO’s Regional Office for Africa for funding the…
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Villagers front-line in the battle against Prosopis in Ethiopia

Paul Rogers, Business Development Manager at CABI, visits Badahamu to understand how invasive weeds affect their livelihoods As we arrived in Badahamu, in eastern Ethiopia, negotiating the by-now familiar thickets of Hara Dergi, “Derg weed” as Prosopis is known in the local Afar language, the impact of last autumn’s floods were painfully apparent. We passed…
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In the eye of the invasive species storm

17th September 2014 – Last weekend I experienced first-hand the impacts that invasive species can have. While carrying out research on an infestation of Opuntia Stricta in Laikipia, I felt something lodge itself in my eye. The following day I visited a specialist, as efforts to wash the thorn out of my eye had been…
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CABI releases rust fungus to control invasive weed, Himalayan balsam

26 August 2014 – From today, not-for-profit research organization, CABI, will be releasing a rust fungus at locations in Berkshire, Cornwall and Middlesex as part of field trials to control the non-native, invasive weed Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) using natural means. Himalayan balsam has rapidly become one of the UK’s most widespread invasive weeds, colonizing…
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