Invasive species can be the bane of gardeners and local ecosystems, killing off native species as they run rampant without natural predators. But now, according to a new report by the UN, they are also costing economies around the world hundreds of billions of dollars. Veuer’s Tony Spitz has the details.
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00:00 Invasive species they can be the bane of gardeners and local ecosystems killing off native species as they run rampant without natural predators
00:07 But now according to a new report by the UN they were also costing economies around the world
00:13 hundreds of billions of dollars their researchers found that there were some
00:17 37,000 invasive species wreaking havoc on areas
00:20 They were never intended to live in these species are transported all over the planet via human activity such as produce shipping among others
00:28 And they are responsible for some four hundred and twenty three billion dollars in economic costs related to their proliferation
00:34 annually and according to co-chair of the United Nations intergovernmental science policy platform on biodiversity and
00:41 Ecosystem services ecologist Helen Roy it's likely going to get much much worse
00:46 But we also know that looking back then these figures have been quadrupling
00:50 Every ten years and we have no reason to think that that isn't going to be happening into the future
00:57 What's more these invasive species are also at least partly responsible for most?
01:01 Extinctions that occur globally with invasive species having a hand in at least 60% of all extinction cases or creatures disappearing
01:09 forever
01:11 (upbeat music)