Invasive Alien Plants

To-date, EPPO has conduct PRAs on the following species invasive alien plants: Alternanthera philoxeroides, Baccharis halimifolia, Cabomba caroliniana, Crassula helmsii, Heracleum persicum, Heracleum sosnowskyi, Hydrocotyle ranunculoides, Ludwigia peploides & L. grandiflora, Lysichiton americanus, Microstegium vimineum, Myriophyllum heterophyllum, Parthenium hysterophorus, Polygonum perfoliatum, Pueraria montana var. lobata, Senecio inaequidens and Solanum elaeagnifolium.

These high priority species were selected through the EPPO prioritization process for invasive alien plants.  When originally published in 2010, the EPPO prioritization process for invasive alien plants was designed with emphasis on plant health concerns which place an emphasis on economic and ecological impacts. 

However, when applied in the context of the Regulation (EU) No. 1143/2014, more emphasis is now placed on impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services and thus under this project, the EPPO prioritization process is being adapted to meet the requirements of the regulation. 

This updated EPPO prioritization process is designed (i) to produce a list of invasive alien plants that are established or could potentially establish in the European Union (EU); and (ii) to determine which of these species have the highest priority for a PRA and, eventually, to be proposed for inclusion in the list of Union concern, Therefore, the process takes into consideration the criteria from the Regulation (EU) No. 1143/2014 on the prevention and management of invasive alien species.

In agreement with Article 4 of this Regulation, the highest priority for performing a risk assessment is given to alien plant species that satisfy the following criteria: (i) they are alien to the territory of the EU excluding the outermost regions, (ii) they are capable of establishing a viable population and spreading rapidly in the environment in the EU (excluding the outermost territories), (iii) they are capable of causing major detrimental impacts to biodiversity and the associated ecosystem services, (iv) actions can be taken to effectively prevent, minimise or mitigate their adverse impact, which involves that they are moved from country to country primarily by human activities and they still have a significant area suitable for further spread within the EU.

We will shortly be publishing the amended prioritization process for invasive alien plants (compliant with the Regulation (EU) No. 1143/2014).  This new process has been used to select 16 plant species with a high priority for PRA within the EU. 

We will shortly be detailing these 16 high priority species