Agroecology and invasive alien plants: A winner-take-all game

Abstract

Agroecology is a holistic and synergistic bottom-up scientific, practical and social movement that works more with nature and local contexts to shape sustainable agriculture and food systems that raise a mound against biodiversity loss, food insecurity, inequalities and social decay (Wezel et al., 2020). The prevalence of Invasive Alien Plants (IAP) in areas under transition towards agroecology or regeneration may constitute a real bottleneck for restoration ecologists, agriculturists, farmers, researchers and policy-makers (Rai, 2022). IAP are defined as alien plants whose introduction and/or spread threaten biological diversity (https://www.cbd.int/decision/cop/?id=7197). Biological invasions are a phenomenon that affects all corners of the globe, spurring international organizations and research institutions to develop global and country databases on the spread and recording of new invasions, such as the Country Compendium of the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS) (Pagad et al., 2022). By 2020, the progress of the indicator 15.8.1 (Proportion of countries adopting relevant national legislation and adequately resourcing the prevention or control of invasive alien species) of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15 for Life on Land and the Target 15.8 (Prevent invasive alien species on land and in water ecosystems) revealed that only 65 countries had a budget for invasive alien species management and 163 countries had National biodiversity strategy and action plan targets aligned with Aichi Biodiversity Target 9, 2020 (https://sdg-tracker.org/biodiversity). The aim of this opinion article is to demonstrate that there are weapons in the armory of farmers and policy-makers to manage IAP in a fair, horizontal, and sustainable agroecological manner.