In laying out the Sustainable Development Goals, the international community set itself an ambitious set of targets to achieve by the end of the next decade. But the challenge of realizing the 17 SDGs means that development organizations often only focus on supporting the operationalizing of a particular subset of the goals. If you’re focused on poverty, health or water, why should you care about a few bugs or weeds cropping up where they shouldn’t?

The reality is that millions of the world's most vulnerable people face problems with invasive weeds, insects, plant diseases, and animals, which are out of control and have major economic, social, and environmental impact.

Some examples of how invasive species directly hinder the progress of achieving multiple SDGs:

  • Higher production costs and reduced yields lead to lower incomes and increase poverty [SDG 1: Elimination of extreme poverty]-Yield losses to invasive species such as tuta absoluta, fall armyworm or parthenium have been known to reduce crop yields by over 90 percent.
  • Reduced crop yields and higher food prices have a direct impact on food security [SDG 2: Achieving zero hunger]-Staples such as maize and rice are severely threatened by the spread of the fall armyworm.
  • Invasive species cause a variety of health problems [SDG 3: Ensuring healthy lives]-Parthenium can cause respiratory problems and dermatitis in humans.

Through methods of prevention, early action, rapid response, and control, we can try to reasonable address this threat to sustainable development.  However, this framework requires commitment across sectors and borders, at both the micro and macro levels.

Read the full article about how invasive species threaten sustainable development by Roger Day at Devex.