Brewington, L.B., Rodgers, L., Greenwood, L. (2024). Recommendations for incorporating invasive species into U.S. climate change adaptation planning and policy. Conservation Science and Practice, 2024:e13210 , 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.13210

Summary

A subcommittee of the Invasive Species Advisory Committee (ISAC) conducted a review and gap analysis of 26 U.S. federal Climate Change Adaptation Plans for references to invasive species and how they affect climate adaptation processes and goals. The plans were mandated by U.S. Executive Order No. 14008 (Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, 2021) to enhance the nation’s resilience to climate change, and the subcommittee was specifically interested in identifying areas where agencies and departments could strengthen their climate objectives by considering how invasive species could impact them.

Results

Of the 26 plans reviewed, only 8 directly referenced invasive species and their impacts. And of those 8, just 4 (Departments of Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and Defense) meaningfully linked invasive species as a threat to climate preparedness and resilience efforts. Results from the gap analysis were used to create five recommendations for integrating invasive species into the federal government’s climate adaptation planning and processes. Specifically, to ensure that climate adaptation goals are met, agencies should:

• Incorporate invasive species into their federal climate change adaptation guidance.
• Increase support for networks and programs, like the Regional Invasive Species and Climate Change (RISCC) Management Networks, that are already working at the intersection of climate change and invasive species.
• Integrate invasive species science and prevention into climate-related treaties, agreements, conventions, and policy.
• Ensure that Early Detection, Rapid Response (EDRR), and safeguarding strategies are informed by the best available climate science.
• Increase investments in long-term invasive species management.

Take Home Points

• Invasive species pose significant challenges to achieving U.S. federal climate adaptation preparedness and resilience goals.
• Failing to account for the detrimental impacts of invasive species will slow or even prevent U.S. agencies and departments from meeting climate adaptation goals. On the other hand, successful invasive species prevention and management benefit biodiversity conservation, economies, human health, and more, while also building resilience to the impacts of climate change.
• Although they were developed based on federal plans, the priority actions recommended by this paper may be applicable in other jurisdictions, such as for U.S. states developing climate action plans (33 U.S. states have released a plan as of 2024).