| Background |
| As the trade of agricultural products increases more and
more globally, many of their diseases and pests are traveling with them. There
has been a marked increase in the number of accidentally introduced pests of
late years. Non indigenous species of all kinds - animals, plants, and
microorganisms - are flowing into the Asian and Pacific region at a remarkable
rate. Moreover alien species which have been introduced intentionally for pets,
cultivation and industrial use have increased too. A lot of them have escaped
and colonized in agro-ecosystem. Unchecked by natural enemies, many of these are
becoming invasive pests that threaten not only human, animal, and plant health
but also ecosystem. The losses caused by invasive alien species to Asian
agriculture have been enormous. |
| Purpose |
In order to establish countermeasures to prevent their
invasion and spread, and minimize the economic and environmental damages caused
by invasive alien species, it is very important to develop a database on
invasive alien species for sharing new information with Asia Pacific countries
by the Internet.
To develop such a database and make up the network of
the specialists for invasive alien species, the International Seminar (Tsukuba
in 2003) and the International Workshop (Taichung in 2004) with attendants from
Asian-Pacific countries were held, which were organized jointly by NIAES of
Japan and FFTC of Taiwan. The database named "Asian-Pacific Alien Species
Database (APASD)" was opened on the Internet in 2004.
The purposes of the
APASD are to help regulate the spread and infestation of invasive alien species,
and to minimize economic damage and environmental impacts in the Asia-Pacific
region caused by such species, by sharing information on invasive alien plants,
insects, microorganisms, et cetera. Through the cooperation of contributors in
many countries and regions, the data will become more and more useful for the
accomplishment of this purpose. |
| Secretariat for the APASD |
National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences
Working group for the APASD
Kannondai-3-1-3, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8604,
Japan
E-mail: apasd@niaes.affrc.go.jp
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