Global economic costs of invasive plants

Résumé fourni par la source

Biological invasions impose substantial ecological and socio-economic burdens, yet the global economic impacts of invasive plants remain incompletely quantified. Here, we provide the first comprehensive global synthesis of reported monetary costs associated with invasive plants using the InvaCost database. After data validation and filtering for highly reliable, observed estimates, we identified a total cost of US$ 361.8 billion in documented costs worldwide between 1960 and 2022, representing a conservative baseline of invasive plant impacts at global level. Costs were strongly uneven across taxa and regions, with a small number of species and families accounting for the vast majority of costs and North America dominating reported expenditures. Terrestrial environments and the agricultural sector bore the greatest economic burden, while damage costs exceeded more than three times those related to management, and preventive investments remained negligible. Annual costs increased markedly from the 1990s onward, reaching peak values exceeding US$ 50 billion in some years. Cumulative damage costs followed sigmoidal trajectories, indicating rapid escalation over recent decades and suggesting substantial long-term economic liabilities under business-as-usual conditions. Socio-economic context and country size were key predictors of reported costs, highlighting strong reporting and capacity biases. Despite the magnitude of documented impacts, plant invasion costs remain severely underestimated due to taxonomic, geographic and sectoral data gaps. Our synthesis reveals the scale, concentration and accelerating trajectory of invasive plant costs globally, underscoring the urgent need for improved reporting, proactive prevention and more effective management to limit future economic losses.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.