In collaboration with the Scientific and Technical Network of MedWet (MedWet STN), the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation (IUCN-Med) has launched an exciting new collaborative storymap named “Unwelcomed guests” which focuses on the interactions and impacts of Invasive Aliens Species (IAS) in Mediterranean wetlands.

IAS, as described by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), are “animals, plants or other organisms introduced by man into places out of their natural range of distribution, where they become established and disperse, generating a negative impact on the local ecosystem and species.”

In the worst cases, these unwelcome guests can eventually cause the extinction of indigenous species and drive ecological devastation, especially in the Mediterranean wetlands that are familiar with their meddlings. According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM, IAS are one of the top five threats that drive species to extinction.

Who or what are these threatening guests? How can they affect biodiversity, environment and people? What are the initiatives to tackle them in the Mediterranean? Discover all of that on the website of the storymap:
medconservationmaps.org/story/Unwelcomed_guests

MedWet’s contribution

IAS is a key issue for freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity conservation in the Mediterranean region and worldwide. MedWet, through the Specialist Group on Biodiversity of the MedWet STN, contributed to producing this storymap by providing advice and guidelines on which IAS should be eradicated in priority, including best elimination techniques based on previous successful operations. In the storymap, the role of citizen science as an important data provider (involving citizens in collecting data on invasive species distribution) has been highlighted.

The Biodiversity Specialist Group (Biodiversity-SG) is one of the five groups constituting the MedWet/STN. It is made up of experts from many countries who contribute to different aspects related to biodiversity. It updates and compiles new Red Lists for Mediterranean wetland taxa and collects the missing information required to identify new Key Biodiversity Areas in the region.

To know more about the MedWet/STN and its Specialist Groups :
http://bit.ly/MedWetSTN

Contact :
Violeta Barrios
Chair of the MedWet/STN/Biodiversity-SG
violetabarrios@gmail.com

Flavio Monti, MedWet
Manager of the MedWet/STN
monti@medwet.org