Santo Domingo. - Raccoons in the Isla Catalina national park, snails that devour rice plantations, insects and fungi that close the doors to certain foreign markets, are among the ore than 144 species of fauna and flora alien the native biodiversity that came to stay and whose impact on the economy and even on human health have yet to be assessed.

Alien species are one of the main concerns of environment authorities anywhere in the world, while locally an attempt to quantify it has transformed them into the project INBIDOM, which gathered experts in different fields to contribute their observations in 2002.

And the listing is barely an estimate, warns the biologist and Museum of Natural History Science Department director Carlos Suriel.

In fact, although the Environment Ministry reports the presence of 17 of the world’s 100 most dangerous invasive species, according to the listing of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), when compared with INBIDOM’s listing, at least 23 of them can be identified.

“Too high a number, says Suriel, there’s an indication of worsening of the invasions of exotic species are increasingly reported. The information is little and diffuse. What should’ve been a center to follow up these species with all the institutions, we haven’t been able to get up to date. The denunciations are done, but the issue doesn’t go any further, it’s not followed up."

SOURCE: clavedigital.com