Biological invasions cost as much as natural disasters, according to a CNRS study

We can cite the case of the Asian hornet which devours pollinators, or termites which attack wood in constructions, or even zebra mussels in the United States which ravage both the hulls of boats or the pipes in installing on it. The globalization of the economy has increased the transfer of animal or plant species from one country to another.

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However, a small part of these imported species, when they settle in a territory that is not their original environment, can become invasive and cause great damage, both to ecosystems and to infrastructures. These invasive alien species can also harm health, by causing allergies or by carrying viruses such as the tiger mosquito, or cause reductions in agricultural yields.

1000 billion euros over the last 40 years

All of the financial losses and damage caused by these biological invasions have been estimated by researchers from the CNRS and the University of Paris Saclay: over the past 40 years, the bill has amounted to more than 1000 billion euros. This means that, for 40 years, biological invasions have been as costly as all the storms, or all the earthquakes, or even all the floods. They have also been more costly than all droughts on earth since 1980. These results were obtained using the database of the Invacost research program, which to date lists more than 13,500 costs of biological invasions worldwide.

Even if it is too late to block the installation of the tiger mosquito or the Asian hornet, on our territory, “Prevention is better than cure for the future”recalls Franck Courchamp, researcher at the CNRS and one of the authors of this work, “because this cost of biological invasions is currently increasing faster than that induced by natural disasters”.

We must therefore invest more in early detection, strengthen legislation and controls. There are already more than 2,700 introduced exotic species in France, and on average six new invasive species land in each department, every ten years according to the French Office for Biodiversity.