Appeal for more funding to combat invasive species

Emily Beament explains why conservationists are claiming British wildlife is facing increasing threats

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LESS than 1% of the Government's biosecurity budget goes on combating invasive species, despite the danger they pose to British wildlife, new figures suggest.

Conservationists have warned that funding to tackle non-native plants and animals is failing to match the risk they pose to native species as well as waterways, homes, businesses and local green spaces.

They have called for more resources to be assigned to border checks to stop non-native species arriving in the UK, and funding for local groups to tackle the problem on the ground.

A Freedom of Information request to the Animal and Plant Health Agency by environmental coalition Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL) shows only £2.47 million of the estimated £250 million biosecurity budget is going towards tackling invasive species.

Of that, only £250,000 is being channelled to local groups tackling non-native species on the ground.

These range from Himalayan balsam and floating pennywort choking waterways to rhododendrons and giant blackberries spreading through woodlands and grasslands.