Convention on the conservation of european wildlife and natural habitats

of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats

The Standing Committee of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, in accordance with Article 14 of the Convention,

Recalling that under Article 11, paragraph 2.b of the Convention, each Contracting Party undertakes to strictly control the introduction of non-native species;

Bearing in mind Recommendation No. R (84) 14 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to Member states on the introduction of non-native species, adopted on 21 June 1984;

Recalling Recommendation No. 57 (1997) on the Introduction of Organisms belonging to Non-Native Species into the Environment;

Recalling Recommendation No. 99 (1999) on the European Strategy on Invasive Alien Species;

Recalling that under Article 8.h of the Convention on Biological Diversity, each Party undertakes to prevent the introduction of, control or eradicate those alien species which threaten ecosystems, habitats or species;

Recalling Decision VI/23 of the 6^th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity, on Alien species that threaten ecosystems, habitats or species, and the definitions used in that text, in particular the following:

• 
  eradication means the extirpation of the entire population of an alien species in a managed area; eliminating the invasive alien species completely/ from an area.
  
• 
  containment means any operation, undertaken within a facility, installation or other physical structure, for the purpose of ensuring that invasive alien species are controlled by specific measures that effectively limit their contact with, their spread in,/ and their impact on, the external environment;
  

Recognising the competent work done by the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation (EPPO) in the identification of alien species that may threatened European and Mediterranean biological diversity and wishing to pursue collaboration of the Convention with EPPO;

Recalling that, following an inventory of invasive alien plants for the European and Mediterranean region, a number species have been evaluated in the EPPO framework and that Pest Risk Analysis has been performed for 5 species which are now recommended for regulation by EPPO, listed in appendix 1 to this recommendation; furthermore recalling that EPPO has gathered information on other alien plants that have a high capacity of spread and a very limited distribution, examples of which are presented in appendix 2 to this recommendation;

Recommends that Contracting Parties:

1 carry out eradication of invasive alien plants which are not widespread and represent a threat at the regional scale or, when the invasion is taken at a late stage, containment or management action. This should apply to invasive alien plants, such as those listed in appendix 1 to this recommendation;

2 consider taking similar action against alien plant species having a high capacity of spread and presenting a very limited distribution, such as those in appendix 2 to this recommendation.

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