Invasive species are alien, non-native species whose introduction and spread does or is likely to cause adverse impacts to economies, native ecosystems, agriculture, human and animal health and military readiness. Invasive species threaten biodiversity, threatened and endangered species, food and water security, and hinder navigation; adversely affect flood risk management, hydropower generation, infrastructure and water supply; and limit public recreation.
Non-native invasive species have a significant and increasingly adverse impact to DoD readiness, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region where management and mitigation infrastructure is often inadequate. Invasive species impact climate resilience, threaten cultural resources, and impact quality of life especially for Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICT). Invasive species pose risks to military readiness by impacting testing and training, safe and efficient materiel movement, biosecurity related expenses and movement delays, wildland fires, threatened and endangered species, diplomacy, host country food and water security, extensive mitigation expenses, infrastructure damage, and the health and safety of military personnel.
Invasive species management requires extensive surveillance and biosecurity protocols to prevent and minimize inadvertent spread and the associated ecological, agricultural, cultural, and readiness consequences. Preventing, controlling, surveilling, and eradicating invasive species requires long-term and sustainable collaborative civilian and military efforts. The Indo-Pacific region is home to a large number of endemic species that are vulnerable to invasive species. Therefore, there is a need for research on invasive species in the Indo-Pacific region to better understand their impacts and develop effective management strategies.
The impact of non-indigenous invasive species on military operations in the Indo-Pacific is four-fold. First, expansion of invasive species can negate realistic conditions for training or testing operations. Second, invasive species are a leading cause of habitat destruction and species endangerment which imposes significant land use restrictions, mitigation, and biosecurity expense to DoD. Third, operations to detect and control invasive species detract from devoting resources to mission activities. Fourth, movement of military equipment requires expensive and time-consuming agricultural washdowns and inspection of deployed and redeployed materiel. Occasionally equipment arrives at destinations not meeting host country cleanliness requirements and must be mitigated with delayed movement and mission delay. Above military impacts due to invasive species, made worse by climate change, are expected to impact military readiness activities in potentially unpredictable ways.
Many non-indigenous invasive species have devastating impacts on ecosystems of all sizes and types, with Pacific Island nations being particularly vulnerable. With few natural enemies, about 1% of non-indigenous (sometimes noxious and/or exotic) species are able to occupy suitable ecological niches, enabling them to spread rapidly, thereby infesting large areas. In the process, they devastate local plant and animal communities by replacing native vegetation and by altering and degrading habitats of native flora and fauna. There is a critical need to have a better understanding and technological advances associated with invasive species in the Indo-Pacific region.