Central Africa: Invasive Species Wrecking Eco-stability

Central Africa: Invasive Species Wrecking Eco-stability

Ntaryike Divine Jr

Douala, Cameroon

29 September 2011

The protracting nonexistence of a synchronized crossborder regime to monitor and control the entry and proliferation of invasive alien species or IAS in Central Africa could cost the region untold and multiform havoc in the near future, a study has warned.

The conclusion is hinged on an investigation of routes through which rodents have entered and settled in the DR Congo.  Prince Kiswele Kaleme, a Congolese biodiversity conservationist and PhD final-year student at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University led the probe funded by the Belgian Technical Cooperation.  It comprised South African, US and French researchers.

“The aim of the study was to highlight the fact that alien species are entering the DRC and in fact, all countries in the Central-East Africa region on a regular basis. Although not all of these species necessarily become invasive, the potential certainly exists for some of them to spread and negatively impact local biodiversity, food security, disrupt ecosystems and affect human health,” Kaleme explained in an email-conducted interview.

According to him, there is a dire need for the elaboration of an all-embracing regional policy blueprint to conserve the environment and curb the escalating IAS onslaught in the region.

“Ideally what is needed is a unified strategy to deal with invasive species. Such a strategy should have the buy-in of all the role players to ensure that it is successfully implemented. Whatever the efficiency of the government services, if the role players do not abide, things cannot work. The collaboration of every one including researchers, tourists, trade and industry officials, etc., is needed,” Kaleme added.

IAS are usually introduced into an area from other parts of the world either by accident or voluntarily.  Though not all alien species become invasive, they may end up colonizing and invading their new habitat. They have the potential to displace indigenous species in their quest for survival by outrunning them in the quest for wellbeing.  Researchers say they perturb biodiversity, wreck ecosystems, alter habitats and threaten humans by spreading diseases, decimating water and land resources among others.

Researchers agree that threats posed by IAS are set to soar with increasing globalization and human mobility and interaction for diverse purposes including trade, travel and tourism.  Natural barriers like oceans, mountains, rivers and deserts are crumbling implying that indigenous species are losing their natural isolation. 

“Take the case of the water hyacinth for example.  We didn’t have it in Cameroon a few years ago.  All we know is that it was imported into Africa from the Amazon in Latin America.  You see how it is invading the River Wouri estuary around Douala?  Fishermen are complaining of poor catch because water surfaces are decreasing sharply.  Prices for shrimps are skyrocketing because fishermen have trouble accessing them, and unfortunately, we have not been able to come with a method to eliminate it,” Prince Nasser Kemajou, a prominent Cameroonian environmentalist concurred. 

He said attempts at manually weeding out the plants over the years have all ended in futility.  He warned that Cameroon, which is home to about 90 percent of all ecosystems found across Africa, runs a real risk IAS infestation owing to underreporting and the absence of coordinated research to enable a sound scientific approach to the problem.

And Kaleme agrees.  “We need the science to inform us how to deal with the species that have already been introduced into the region, and how to ensure that other species don’t become established in future.  Proactive regulations, along with increased research into the local and alien animal and plant species found in the region must be put in place.  We need to put our research into practice to ensure that invasive species do not colonize even more areas,” he recommended. 

An existing NEPAD [New Partnership for Africa’s Development] blueprint to tackle IAS prescribes raising awareness, enforcing customs controls, building partnerships, increasing vigilance on imported plants and animal species, among others.  But critics say since its elaboration, the plan has remained dormant as governments grapple to satisfy other major priorities in agriculture and health, for example.

“At the level of Cameroon, nothing is being heard about the NEPAD project.  But there is a another one being implemented by the United Nations Environment Program in tandem with the Global Environment Facility which goes from 2011 to 2015.  It is about the development and institution of a national monitoring and control system for biological invaders.  We are hoping that upon completion, we should have effective mechanisms to combat invasive species,” Kemajou stated.

Elsewhere, experts agree that preventing the introduction of IAS is the most cost-effective and environmentally-sound measure so far available against IAS whose negative impacts can be vast, insidious and usually irremediable.  Others are however suggesting that governments should turn trouble into fortune by investing in the transformation of some IAS – like making paper and fuelwood from Eucalyptus and Acacia, for instance.