INTRODUCTION 1 Background Prosiding INAFOR III 2015 FullIssue low rest

Bogor, 21-22 October 2015 443 PAPER F1 - Removing Barriers to Invasive Species Management in Production and Protection Forests in SE Asia – the FORIS project Sivapragasam 1 , W. Arne 1 , S. Titiek 2 and H.T. Chan 1 1 CAB SEA Office, Building A19, MARDI, 43400 Serdang Selangor; 2 FORDA, Indonesia ABSTRACT The various gaps in the management of IAS threatening forest habitats in Southeast Asia SE Asia are addressed in a 4-year Global Environment Funded GEF-funded project, Removing Barriers to Invasive Species Management in Production and Protection Forests in SE Asia. The objective is to manage SE Asian forests and biodiversity sustainably by reducing negative environmental, economic and human health consequences of IAS especially plants in forest production systems and natural parks in Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam by strengthening existing policy frameworks, national capacities and awareness, management interventions and regional linkages. There are 7 project components: Component 1: Establishing National Policy and Institutional Frameworks; Component 2: Regional Cooperation in Southeast Asia; Component 3: National Capacity Building and Institutional Support; Component 4: National Pilots on Prevention, control and Management of Priority Forest IAS; Component 5: National Information and Awareness Program; Component 6: Monitoring and Evaluation Plan and Component 7: Project Management. Key developments in the project were: i Formulated the National Invasive Species Strategic Action Plan NISSAP document; ii Conducted several regional trainings and workshops e.g. Forest Restoration and Rehabilitation, Bio-control on Invasive Plant Species, Herbicide Use and Monitoring and Evaluation of IAS, Developing a National Communication Strategy, Cost Benefit Analysis and Eco-climatic Modelling CLIMEX; iii Established communication and awareness on IAS at the regional and national levels; and iv Build-up capacities and competencies in implementing pilot scale management programs against target IAS in the pilot sites such as Acacia nilotica and Merremia peltata Indonesia; Mimosa pigra Cambodia; Piper aduncum Philippines and Mimosa diplotricha Vietnam. Keywords: Invasive species, forest, production, protection, barriers, management 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Invasive Alien Species IAS pose significant threat to forest habitats and their production capacity throughout the region, not only impacting on biodiversity but also on the livelihoods of millions of people. Response to GEF V Priorities and Needs; Strategic Objective 2, Outcome 2.3: Improved Management Frameworks to Prevent, Control and Manage Invasive Species. Countries in the SEA Region also have recognised the need for a regional strategy and expressed strong interest in linking their national strategies e.g. NBSAP and efforts in implementing Article 8 h of the Convention on Biological Diversity CBD to mitigate the threats of IAS in SE Asia. Bogor, 21-22 October 2015 444

1.2 Threats and issues

Currently, there are a number of threats and issues when dealing with IAS. These threats include: i Increased pathway activities; ii Climate change; iii Ecological vulnerability of ecosystems; and the issues include: i Insufficient baseline data e.g. on impacts; ii In- sufficient stakeholder involvement and coordination and iii Low IAS management capacity. At the country level, countries pose IAS problems due to : i Lack of national policies on management of IAS; ii Weakly coordinated action amongst various stakeholders including forest and forestry sectors; iii Quarantine measures make little reference to IAS and no effective rapid response to new pest outbreaks; iv Little or no capacity for IAS management; v Lack of information on IAS present, their distribution, impacts and management; vi Very low awareness levels; vii Little or no active control on invasive plants; viii Absence of information on best practices entailing the governance and management of IAS. At the Regional level, there is: i Insufficient information sharing on IAS and ii Lack of regional cooperation in the management of IAS.

1.3 Impacts of IAS

There are not many sources papers describing the impacts of IAS especially those involving forest ecosystems in southeast Asia SEA. One relatively recent source Kelvin Peh, 2010 gave a good description on the types of impacts attributed to invasive species in SEA and also on ecosystem services Kelvin Peh et al 2015. The impacts were:i Displacement of native biota e.g. in Brunei, Acacia auriculiformis and A. cincinnata and pioneer Alphitonia, Commersonia, Dillenia, Melastoma, Macaranga; and that of A. mangium and Melastoma beccarianum in Singapore; ii Modifications of ecosystems e.g. Mimosa pigra in the Greater Mekong Sub-region GMS and that of Lantana camara replacement of native grasses and threaten habitat of wild buffalo; and iii Economic loss e.g. aquatic systems; water hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes, water lettuce and yellow burhead Limnocharis flava and L. camara. 2. MATERIAL AND METHOD 2.1 Introduction to the FORIS project