Alien invasive species : A global threat to biodiversity

By Deependra Joshi

What do green crabs, zebra mussels, the African tulip tree and the brown tree snake have in common? These are just a few of the many plant and animal species whose unchecked population growth outside of their native habitats have severely impacted native species populations, the functioning of ecosystems, and global and local economies.

The global conservation community is bating to find solutions to one of the major threats to biological diversity that continues unabated with devastating consequences for the planet. Biological invasion by alien species is now recognised as one of the major threats to native species and ecosystems, yet awareness of the problem is alarmingly low. The effects on biodiversity are immense and often irreversible.

AIS? Alien species are those that occur outside their natural range. Alien species that threaten the existence of native plants and animals or other aspects of biodiversity are termed alien invasive species. Alien invasive species occur in all groups of plants and animals. As competitors, predators, pathogens and parasites, they have invaded almost every type of native ecosystem, and caused hundreds of extinctions.

Alien species have been defined as a species that is non-native, non-indigenous, exotic or outsider to an ecosystem under consideration. Introduction of such a species is likely to cause economic and/or environmental loss and/or harm to human health. Any species including its seeds, eggs, spores or other biological materials through which it is capable of multiplying and propagating in an ecosystem other than its natural home could be an alien species. On the contrary, the native species are those that have occurred historically with the evolution of an ecosystem as its natural home. All native species thrive in harmony with each other whereby natural succession and biological control mechanism within the ecosystem maintain and sustain a natural balance of the community of species within that ecosystem. The scope and cost of biological alien invasions are enormous in both ecological and economic terms. Economic costs of alien invasive species run into billions of dollars each year. Introduced pests and pathogens reduce crop and stock yields, and weeds degrade marine and freshwater ecosystems.

Biological invasion: What happens when a species is introduced into an ecosystem where it doesn’t occur naturally? Are ecosystems flexible and able to cope with change, or can a new arrival have far-reaching repercussions and do permanent damage? Will something special be lost forever? Does it matter?

In the distant past, the earth’s mountains and oceans represented formidable natural barriers to all but the hardiest of species. Ecosystems evolved in relative isolation. Early human migration saw the first intentional introduction of alien species as our ancestors attempted to satisfy physical and social needs, but the magnitude and frequency of those early introductions were minor compared to those associated with today’s extensive global trade and passenger movements.

Careless behaviour leads to unintentional introductions. So-called ‘accidents’ now account for the majority of successful invasions. The list of "100 of the World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species" published by IUCN - The World Conservation Union illustrates the incredible variety of species that the ability, not just to travel in ingenious ways, but also to establish, thrive and dominate in new places. Today, alien invasion is second only to habitat loss as a cause of endangerment and extinction of the species.

Safeguarding the earth’s diversity is the best way to maintain our life support system. Useful initiatives, which contribute to better management practices and a reduced incidence of biological invasion, are being taken by communities all over the world. Invasive alien species are now a major focus of international conservation concern and the subject of cooperative international efforts, such as the Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP). As awareness grows, people and their communities are able to make informed choices that will have lasting effects on
their descendants.

AIS in Nepal: Being the junction of the Palearctic and oriental realms of the earth and at the crossroad of six floristic provinces of Asia, Nepal has a great geographical as well as climatic variation. Such a wide range of natural attributes in a relatively small area has endowed Nepal with the representation of various ecosystems and habitats. Consequently, Nepal has the natural environment suitable for a wide variety of flora and fauna including its own floral and faunal diversity.

Nepal’s natural resources have been under excessive pressure due to the growing population’s demand and overdependence over such natural resources for livelihood and subsistence farming practices. Many natural habitats have suffered continual changes dues to enhanced human activities and land use changes. Many agricultural crops, and together with them, many unknown weeds have been introduced in the past 2-3 decades affecting agriculture, forest, rangeland and wetland ecosystems. Rapid colonisation of Eupatorium species in subsequently degrading forest ecosystems and increasing invasion of water hyacinth in the Terai wetlands and mid-hills have posing severe threat. Often many AIS prey on, put-compete, hybridise and infect native species thereby causing habitat deterioration, ecosystem disturbance and loss of invaluable species impacts to the biodiversity.

Knowledge on alien species in Nepal is rather meagre and limited. Any comprehensive study has yet to document and determine the status of AIS in Nepal in order to understand and address the problems created by them. Nepal Biodiversity Action Plan (draft, 2000) provides a list of alien floral species in Nepal. However, the number of species may be more. A number of AIS has been observed in different parts of Nepal since 2-3 decades now. Nearly a dozen of AIS is said to have started showing the invasive characteristics in different ecosystems in Nepal. Due to the lack of sufficient knowledge however, it remains to develop the knowledge base.

Emerging need: Alien species are increasingly becoming serious threat to the environmental and economic well-being locally and globally. There is a growing need to develop the knowledge base on alien species, their behaviour in the ecosystems they have been introduced and their nature, scale and intensity of propagation/colonisation. This type of study complemented with similar information from the countries where they have already been introduced would be useful to understand the interaction of such aliens with their ecosystems and help in predicting the potential risk of invasion. Moreover, it is high time to understand the aliens that have already become invasive in Nepal so that their management could be studied and tested to ensure the conservation of biodiversity and protection of production base. Improved education and dissemination of information to all sections of the international community is critical to stopping the spread of alien species. Yet useful information that could help reverse or at least halt the problems is not being shared sufficiently.

These Guidelines, developed by the Species Survival Commission’s Invasive Species Specialist Group aim to help governments and management agencies around the world prevent the introduction of alien invasive species, or control and eradicate species which threaten their native species, habitats and ecosystems.

The invasive nature of a species means that, given opportune conditions, it may spread unchecked across geographical or political boundaries. To be effective, an initiative to identify, control, or eradicate an invasive species requires a coordinated approach, where lessons learned and methodologies applied are shared widely. IUCN is uniquely positioned to facilitate such an exchange of knowledge.

(The author is associated with IUCN Nepal)

Get trained-jobs ensured !

By Cecial Adhikari & Prabha Pokhrel

Access to productive and remunerative employment is one of the most important means of poverty reduction in Nepal with 23 million people to feed where unemployment has emerged as a problem bigger than poverty. The Ninth Plan (1997-2002) shows a staggering unemployment situation as both unemployment and underemployment problems. Currently 4.9 percent of country’s labour force is unemployed while 47 percent of its youth force remains under-employed. The unemployment situation is further aggravated by a large number of school drop-outs, over 40 percent illiterates and with over 30 percent of children still deprived of their fundamental rights to basic and primary education. Education quality is another aspect, which has unfortunately ever been questioned. This way 0.3 million people enter the labour market every year, accelerating the already high unemployment rate.

In developing countries like Nepal massive infrastructure works are expected to be in place and consumption of technical human resources should be high. However, paradoxically, most of the technical human resources are unemployed.

There are many initiatives towards creating employment through effective vocational training in the country. Programmes in affiliation with the government like CTEVT (Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training), Garib Sang Bisheswor, Mahila Jagriti and Aya Arjan, Ganeshman Singh Shanti Abhiyan and several NGOs have been providing vocational training for the creation of skilled human resources. These organisations seem to be committed to solve the present unemployment problems to some extent. However, effective implementation and sustainability of the programe which needs to be evaluated is questioned.

Private Technical Training Providers (PTTP) also have undertaken such programmes. However, they also have not been able to materialise themselves into effective plan of action, which has become difficult for the evaluation of such programmes. There is also no scheme and system to control the quality. The government has not been able to facilitate such training and provide support. In accordance with the government policy, it is required to provide subsidies for the technical training institutes as it provides to boarding schools. But such a provision to promote and support the training has been only in papers not in action. As a result, the Nepalese human resource suffers due to lack of appropriate training and its relevance.

All the above mentioned programmes do not ensure jobs after training. However, some projects like Training for Employment (TfE) under SDC in co-ordination with partner institutions have indicated positive sign for reduction of unemployment. Unlike other projects, TfE module ensures job opportunities after training.

A private company, Unlimited in collaboration with Employment Promotion Centre of HMGN has also initiated training that ensures jobs. The programme has planned to train and employ 1500 Medical Transcriptors within 3 cities of Kathmandu, Pokhara and Itahari. The programme will be carried out with 6 months training followed by 3 months Internship. It’s impact and application has yet to be evaluated. However, it is to be considered as another milestone on job ensured training.

However, the magnitude of employment to be arranged through these projects need to be scaled up to make a dent on unemployment problem.

Job ensured training needs to be viewed from foreign employment perspective also. There is high demand of skilled and trained human resources within and outside the country but the situation is precarious due to the inappropriate design of training packages, absence of labour market surveys, lack of job oriented vision and insufficient strategies on linkage of job market and skilled workforce. Thus, billions of rupees invested for the human resources training has been somewhat wasted in the country. It is imperative that there should exist a strong interlink between the training providers and the employment providers.

The Human Resource Services companies obtaining licenses according to The Foreign Employment Act, 2042 and the Foreign Employment Regulation (Niyamawali), 2056 are authorised to supply skilled human resources abroad for employment. There are a total of 168 recognised companies in Nepal supplying work force abroad. From 2049/50 to 2057/58, a total of 1,36,000 Nepali workforce has gone abroad for jobs.

In view of the present unemployment situation within the country, many youngsters are lured by foreign employment opportunities. However, the demand for skilled labours abroad remains unfulfilled. There is a dilemma that the unskilled labours get low salary abroad as by Gulf standard, Nepali workers come under the category of cheap labour force that is not skillful the other hand PTTP is without trainees. It is partially due to the fact that Vocational Institutions (PTTP etc) are not able to cope with the recent technology due to government’s insufficient strategies and policy.

The other dilemma is that unemployment rate is on the rise, while, the influx of foreign workers is increasing in full knowledge of the government. The country’s total labour force today consists of 38 percent foreign nationals. Considering the poor economic growth rate and abundant work force, this is indeed a high figure. Some argue that the labourers from across the border are cheaper, and therefore, preferred to the local youth. This is very unconvincing as well as unclear because the locals remain jobless.

The need of the present situation is the creation of qualified and skilful human resources both for revenue generation and for resolving unemployment problems. It is only possible if the government takes initiatives in cordination with all the stakeholders. Upgrading labour skills and improvement of technologies should be actively promoted so as to maintain competitiveness and sustain growth. Training programmes, which ensure job opportunities, should be conceptualised, visualised and promoted in order to come up with the solution towards unemployment and potentially social problems.

Let’s make things better

By Smriti Jaiswal

When three nations are under fanatical attacks one is bound to wonder about what the root causes of such attacks might be and why it is happening to these countries at all - especially if the nations share similarities. Now, what is the most prominent similarity between Nepal, India and America? Not much at the surface maybe, but a strong one at a deeper level. All three are democratic countries and
they have their right to democracy being challenged.

The 11th of September incident shook the world and the unsuccessful suicidal attack on the Parliament of India on the 13th of December is something that escaped shaking the world only because it was unsuccessful. And Nepal is going through one of its most critical phases. The question arises - why are the Taliban, the Kashmiri militants and the Maoists so bent on destroying the system of Democracy. Do they really believe that a non-democratic nation is a better option? I have serious doubts.

What could be the motives - the deep, unseen ones that might have instigated these terrorist attacks? Could it be envy of success? an antagonism against wealth and monetary development? Ok, so Bin Laden is a rich man, but his fanaticism teaches him that richness is fatal, detrimental to life. The problem with most religions is that they get very dangerous if they are misunderstood and also that religion lives too much for the benefits of the "other" world than the benefits of this one. Paradoxically, religion is also the most disturbance-creating factor of modern life it is the cause of so much disturbances that I think in the modern world it should be considered unethical to be religious.

However, leaving the issue behind, the other very important reason behind wars today is not clash of ideology but envy of success. Afghanistan is a highly unsuccessful country as far as monetary development goes, and America is the symbol of all that money can buy. India is amongst the rapidly developing countries, Pakistan amongst the stagnant ones. Nepal is determined to start a forward march; the Maoists are set on obstructing it. Why? Why are there such savage wars between success and unsuccess? Between liberty and force? Between secularism and dogmatism? The Taliban, the Kashmiri militants and the Maoists represent the latter while America, India (and I hope Nepal will one day) prove themselves to be symbols of the former. However, to be successful is to be confident, to be confident is to be independent and this is something very few can take in.

Success, reason, individuality, development etc have always been considered sources of arrogance and war and so far the relation has been such. However, the cause lies not so much in the concepts of the terms as in the misinterpretations to which they have been subjected. To make my point more clear, I will make Nepal a case study.

What is the cause of unrest in Nepal? Who causes them and why? What do they want? Nepal is a democratic nation (again the question arises - why did the citizens fight for democracy? And why are the people now waging war against it? ) determined to remain democratic. At the same time, it is also an extremely lethargic and poor country. For some years now it has been facing Maoist attacks. The Maoists once represented a belief, a cause, they now represent terror and insecurity. They represent terror and insecurity not only for the Nepalese citizens but also of the Nepalese citizens. The government has killed many Maoists yet many many more crop up almost every day. This constant birth of Maoists represents the terror of the citizens. It represents the terror of the unsuccessful. It is the unsuccessful, the poor, the deprived who join forces with the terrorizers; they revitalize the dying force.

Firstly because discontent is synonymous with unsuccess which is synonymous with the devil, and secondly because unsuccess is always very very jealous of success. A person living on mean porridge cannot digest someone else’s roasted chicken. Another question. Should the latter be condemned as selfish and a cheat and cruel just because they can afford roasted chicken and the former cannot? Is it all right, ethical, moral to snatch their meal away and distribute it amongst the porridge people? I think that is bogus. A democracy is a system that allows a person to grow to his own potentiality and live by it. But according to this definition, Nepal is not a democracy because it does not allow its citizens to grow their potential. It declares emergencies, starts a vicious counterattack but does not fish out the real, the most effective solution. Emergencies are all right as short-term programs, but it is prosperity we need as a long-term solution. However, this prosperity for the poor cannot be bought at the cost of the already prosperous. The first priority of a democratic nation is to make her people capable. Education is imperative and since we are an agriculture-based community, making agriculture scientific is necessary.

Our people have to be made successful if we expect loyalty from them. An empty stomach is loyal to nobody. A rich population might have foreign enemies but never indigenous ones. America might have external attackers but it does not have to face the ignominy of having her own people turn against her. Unlike America, India has her insiders going berserk because there are poor insiders eating her away. There is nothing romantic or good about being poor, it is the worst curse possible.

The outsiders when they attack, they attack out of envy - the less successful always hurt at the success of others. But when insiders attack it is out of hatred and that is worse. Fanaticism in any form is damaging. Islamic fanaticism is doing a good job at ruining the world and we are almost as fanatical as they are. We are poverty fanatics. We think poverty is heroic and noble and romantic and holy. At least that is what our scriptures teach us. But our common sense should teach us that
poverty is a vice which should be eradicated somehow, anyhow, if we wish to live in peace.

Value addition by knowledge management

By Rajshri Rawal Pant

In times of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.- Eric Hoffer

Webster’s dictionary has defined knowledge as "the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association". In practice, though, there are many possible, equally plausible definitions of knowledge. A frequently used definition of knowledge is "the ideas or understandings which an entity possesses that are used to take effective action to achieve the entity’s goal(s). This knowledge is specific to the entity which created it."

Literally speaking, can knowledge be managed? Generally, knowledge is something which is very diverse, hard to manage and can be utilised in a truly professional world. By contrast, knowledge in today’s world is nothing but "power". It is something, which lasts forever and can be used without being consumed. In today’s age information plays a vital role in bringing success for the company. Hence, if thought about seriously what position would a firm attain if it concentrates on such a vital and new concept as managing knowledge? If an organisation can seriously apply and focus it on the right track, it can bring unbelievable miracles for the organisation. The quality of knowledge does not depend on whether it is old or new but rather whether it is relevant, whether it still works. Whether it is old or new hardly matters. The question is: does it work?

In my view, knowledge management has different management elements mixed in the right proportion, at the right time and aimed at the right people. It incorporates important management elements like human elements, strategic elements, entrepreneurial elements, information management elements, and so on. For example, knowledge management cannot be successful without considering the potentiality of the existing human capital of the organisation. Proper utilisation of human capital would not be possible without the employees being motivated. If the workforce is not motivated, it would be impossible to form a knowledge pool for the organisation from which the best ideas can be implemented. The concept of knowledge management also means to contemplate the culture of the organisation. The concept needs to be tailor-made according to the culture of the organisation so that its practicality is not threatened.

The strategic elements have a significant role in the application of knowledge management within an organisation. Knowledge management professionals ought to make and choose the right strategy according to the type of organisation and the type of customer it serves. Formulating and implementing the right strategy, at the right time and right place and linking the knowledge asset to such strategy is crucial for long run sustainability. Knowledge management would not be possible without incorporating information management aspects. In fact, knowledge management is not data management. Data alone cannot provide information. Information ought to be extracted from the data. An understanding of knowledge requires some grasp of its relationship to information. Then only can the information be used or developed to create knowledge, which will add value to the organisation.

A generic definition of knowledge management (KM) is that it is the term given to the process of capture, refinement, aggregation and sharing of data and information between employees, departments, subsidiaries and partner organisations to achieve a position of knowledge-based competitive advantage. The business scenario in today’s context is volatile, and so each organisation needs to think seriously regarding the investment sectors. The remedy for this situation has been described thoroughly by Lester Thurow, who states that, "With everything else dropping out of the competitive equation, knowledge has become the only source of long run sustainable competitive advantage. But, knowledge can only be employed through the skill of the individuals."

This concept is vast and at the same time useful for equipping an organisation to face different types of uncertainties that might arise anytime. The broadness of this concept will enable one to identify relevant knowledge areas from which core competencies can be built for an organisation. The prime objective of knowledge management is to innovate new ways to process inherited values for the organisation. However, care should be taken to prioritise the importance of the knowledge according to the need of the organisation. This can be obtained by measuring the value of the knowledge it provides for the organisation.

Knowledge management is nothing but a medium to reduce uncertainties for the decision-makers in an organisation. This programme is the one, which instigates one to take action for the betterment of an organisation. It demands continuous learning and improvement in the existing situation through better utilisation of knowledge. It constantly strives to overcome internal and external barriers and also to provide more opportunities to innovate. The action orientation of this concept is the key strength which will ensure its sustainability. The President of Hewlett Packard stated that "if they knew what they know then they would be much better off", which further signifies the importance of knowledge generation in an organisation.

Knowledge management experts have identified its basic inference as being to create a knowledge centre and revalue the business. A "knowledge centre" will provide a company and its employees with up-to-date profiles on number of topics, eg competitors, clients, benchmarks, processes, industry news, events and recommended reading. The core component of knowledge management is intellectual capital. Intellectual capital has three segments, human capital, organisational capital and customer capital. Organisational capital lays the foundation of corporate stability. It is the deciding factor as to whether the implementation of a knowledge centre will require short or long term advice. If managed, intellectual capital is an intangible asset that adds formal value to the company balance sheet.