Centre Permanent d’Initiatives pour l’Environnement Authie Valley, meer
Ministerie van Economische Zaken, Landbouw en Innovatie; Nederlandse Voedsel- en Warenautoriteit, meer
RINSE (Reducing the Impacts of Non-native Species in Europe) is an exciting new European Project which will look at ways of managing invasive non-native species (INS) across the Two Seas Programme area. It will also seek to improve awareness of the threats posed by INS, and the methods to address them.
An invasive non-native (or 'alien') species is any non-native animal or plant that has the ability to spread causing damage to the environment, the economy, our health and the way we live. Many of these impacts are caused as INS upset the natural balance within an ecosystem. INS can cause this disruption by outcompeting native species (by growing faster or being more aggressive), by being a vector for an exotic disease, through genetic impacts or by directly predating and grazing native species which have no defence against the new threat.
INS are widespread in the RINSE project area and continue to be introduced in a wide variety of ways including via the horticultural and pet trade, commercial shipping and tourism. Insufficient information about the distribution and spread of INS has historically made it difficult to prioritise and target action, leading to ad-hoc control efforts. Furthermore, insufficient sharing of information about INS across countries has led to some duplication of effort. Poor general awareness of the threats posed by INS means that some are still available commercially, or are released into the wild.
Our project has been funded by the European Union - Interreg IVA 2 Seas programme and has a total of nine partners from France, England, Belgium and the Netherlands.
