Alien species in Italy: damage to biodiversity and costs in excess of EUR 500 million per year

Within this framework are the impacts and also the economic costs of biological invasions. The documented history, between 1990 and 2020, and calculated only for 15 alien species, makes an estimate of 704.78 million euro, about 23 million a year. A figure that, as Ispra points out, 'represents a strong underestimate due to the lack of information on this subject, as can be deduced from the data available for some of the alien species present in Italy'. Over the years, the rate of introduction of new species has also increased, from the 6 recorded in the 1970s to 16 in the past years to the current 25 species per year. And the damage count is rising, as the report shows.

Losses of 356 million due to the Asian bug

"The Asian bedbug (Halyomorpha halys) caused losses of at least 356 million euros in specific fruit and vegetable crops in northern Italy in 2019 alone," it reads, "and the costs for treatments and management and treatment of the turtle mealybug (Toumeyella parvicornis) in the last four to five years alone caused in two of the five outbreaks of presence identified in central Italy (the city of Rome and in Castel Volturno) more than 28 million euros. Not forgetting the outbreak of the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) in the Po Delta area, which 'has caused total costs of almost EUR 50 million per year over the last three years'.

12 million damage due to nutria

And then the coypu (Myocastor coypus), which "causes annual costs for damage and management estimated at up to 12 million euros". This is not all, however, because the impacts caused by other invasive alien species "considered in the baseline study, such as the tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) responsible for the arrival in our country of diseases such as Dengue fever and Chikungunya, are greatly underestimated, as no study is available on the health costs of related treatments".

Needed to strengthen prevention and surveillance

The estimates, however, are very high. "It is presumable that the economic losses caused by biological invasions in our country are more than EUR 500 million per year," the study continues, "a figure 20 times higher than the available estimates, and these costs are set to rise even further if they are not prepared.

The report highlights the priority of strengthening prevention and surveillance actions, improving the flow of information and making management responses more timely and effective in order to address this environmental and economic challenge.