Article 13 of the Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species (the ‘IAS Regulation’) requires Member States to identify and prioritize pathways of unintentional introduction and spread of IAS of Union Concern. This report identifies priority pathways of unintentional introduction in Belgium for the 88 IAS of Union Concern listed to date (2023). Priority pathways are defined in the IAS Regulation as pathways requiring actions by priority because of the volume of the alien species using the pathway or of the potential damage these species can inflict on biodiversity. First, pathways of introduction and spread were identified for each of the listed species by reviewing pathway information contained in the EU risk assessments using the definitions of the CBD classification framework (CBD, 2014) and the interpretation manual of Harrower et al. (2018). The relevance of these pathways was considered for Belgium, based on expert knowledge and review. Second, pathways were prioritised using a methodology that takes into account the species impact, establishment potential and the frequency of introduction via the different pathway. The results of this prioritization are in line with results of the two previous prioritization analyses (NSSIAS, 2018 and 2020). The top 12 pathways are still the same, with pathways only changing a maximum of two ranks. In terms of importance, escape of animal species from the private premises of their owner and spread of plants beyond where they were planted are still the main pathways for animal and plant species. Only 3 extra pathways are added to the list of pathways through which the species of Union Concern are introduced to and spread within Belgium, but these pathways are only relevant for the four ant species and two other newly added species on the list. Since pathway action plans were not written in a species specific manner, we see no immediate need for an update of the current National action plan on priority pathways of unintentional introduction and spread of invasive alien species of the Union list in Belgium, taking into account that the new species could be taken into account in already existing actions on awareness raising or biosecurity measures. Instead of adding extra preventative actions or tackling additional pathways, we conclude that generating more data on species and pathways would lead to better adapted plans and ameliorate prevention in the long run.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023
EcoMPV (Eco-designing Marine PhotoVoltaic installations) is a three years project (from October, 2022 to October, 2025) funded by the Belgian Energy Transition Fund. The project will deepen the knowledge about environmental challenges related to offshore PV installations, aiming at technical solutions to mitigate undesired consequences and maximize beneficial impacts. Knowledge gaps will be addressed about (1) altered underwater light field, hydrodynamics, pelagic biogeochemistry and primary production, (2) the artificial habitat provision for colonizing fauna and fish, and (3) effects on carbon fluxes and sequestration. Advice for eco-designing offshore PV installations, paving the way to its environmental licensing, will be formulated in the framework of this project. Five partners are involved in this project: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), Ghent University (UGENT), Tractebel Engineering S.A. (Tractebel), Jan De Nul and Dredging International (DEME). Task 3.3 is part of the third work package of the project (WP3) entitled “effect of MPVs on carbon sequestration”. It aims to assess the areas of the seabed impacted by the deposition of faecal pellets due to the installation of MPVs within the Mermaid wind farm concession. This work provides a first estimate of the enrichment of organic carbon flux to the sediments due to the presence of colonizing organisms on the floaters. A 3D Lagrangian particle tracking model, OSERIT, is used for this work.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
