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Biodiversity is a term that describes the number and diversity of the different plants, animals, and other living things within our environment. Biodiversity is a key factor in natural resilience to the impacts of environmental change. All species contribute to environmental resilience, including those that are naturally common and those that are rare. Natural biological communities have evolved over thousands or millions of years and have resulted in adaptations to local conditions that make these species resilient to natural environmental change. This community of native species contributes to ecosystem functioning and together provides the ecosystem services that we rely on. These services include provisioning (such as food, fuel, raw materials, or medicines), regulating (such as providing clean water and air, climate regulation and flood protection, waste decomposition, and biological pest and disease control), supporting (such as nutrient cycling), and cultural services (such as spiritual and heritage value, recreation, and science). When ecosystems are disturbed or disrupted, due to habitat modification, overharvesting, or invasive species, their function is affected, the benefits they offer decline, and resilience to further change is reduced. In this time of unprecedented global environmental change, protecting biodiversity is more important than ever to ensure we can retain the benefits of the natural world on which all our lives depend

The clean boats, clean ports framework is a Pacific Regional Invasive Species Management Support Service (PRISMSS) Protect our Islands (POI) initiative to enable countries to better secure international entry ports that are gateways to priority domestic destinations. This Battler Series publication supports the prevention of the spread of invasive species among islands within countries. The document outlines a flexible framework that recognises the diverse situations in Pacific island countries and territories and that capitalises on existing strengths, while highlighting achievable and aspirational targets. This publication is part of a collection of Battler guides on preventing the spread of invasive species in the Pacific region. For an introduction, read the Battler publications Protect our islands with biosecurity and Catch it early: invasive species early detection and rapid response. This guide is targeted for decision-makers prioritising improvements to prevent invasive species arriving, establishing, and spreading, to guide the implementation of targeted enhancements. The guide aligns with many aspects of the regional Guidelines and particularly C1. Biosecurity – Preventing the spread of invasive species across international or internal borders.

Biodiversity is a term that describes the number and diversity of the different plants, animals, and other living things within our environment. Biodiversity is a key factor in natural resilience to the impacts of environmental change. All species contribute to environmental resilience, including those that are naturally common and those that are rare. Natural biological communities have evolved over thousands or millions of years and have resulted in adaptations to local conditions that make these species resilient to natural environmental change. This community of native species contributes to ecosystem functioning and together provides the ecosystem services that we rely on. These services include provisioning (such as food, fuel, raw materials, and medicines), regulating (such as provision of clean water and air, climate regulation and flood protection, waste decomposition, and biological pest and disease control), supporting (such as nutrient cycling), and cultural services (such as spiritual and heritage value, recreation, and science). When ecosystems are disturbed or disrupted, due to habitat modification, overharvesting, or invasive species, their function is affected, the benefits they offer decline, and resilience to further change is reduced. In this time of unprecedented global environmental change, protecting biodiversity is more important than ever to ensure we can retain the benefits of the natural world on which all our lives depend.

The need for this guidance document was identified through consultation with National Invasive Species Coordinators (NISC), Pacific Regional Invasive Species Management Support Service (PRISMSS) partners, and other Pacific invasive species management practitioners. This document is a key output under the ‘Managing Invasive Species for Climate Change Adaptation in the Pacific’ (MISCCAP) project. This document was informed by New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC) Island biosecurity best practice: Quarantine guidelines, which aim to protect offshore ecosystems and native species from the negative impact of invasive species on Department of Conservation managed islands.

Sustainable financing is about gaining access to funding in a way that can continue permanently for all the work that needs to be done and, typically, that does not rely on grants. Those involved in conservation or environmental management know how important funding is and how much effort is involved in getting the funding needed for projects and activities. The task of getting money is usually the role of the director or manager of an organisation. In the case of government departments, this responsibility typically lies with the finance manager.

Invasive marine species are organisms that are introduced to parts of the world where they do not naturally occur and which have negative impacts on people, the environment, or resources. Negative impacts from invasive marine species include outcompeting native species and driving economic impacts, such as through the loss of commercial fisheries or aquaculture harvest. Not all non-native species are ‘invasive’. Non-native marine species can come from many taxonomic groups, such as fish, crabs, oysters, mussels, seaweeds, barnacles, or sponges.

Ecosystems have immeasurable intrinsic value that can never be priced. Ecosystems also exist as ecological infrastructure that delivers valuable ecosystem services for human wellbeing including supporting, regulating, provisioning, and cultural services. The conceptual framework underlying the analysis in this report focuses on the way that ecosystem services cross over from the biophysical to the social and economic world. This enables the pricing of the human labour and technology cost of protecting and enhancing ecosystems (ecological infrastructure) that provide these services that benefit human wellbeing. We routinely price this cost of protecting ecosystems in organisational budgets for core and grant funding. We can also price these same costs in a manner that does not rely on government core or grant funding, but instead on a sustainable financing framework.

Biological invasions are responsible for tremendous impacts globally, including huge economic losses and management expenditures. Efficiently mitigating this major driver of global change requires the improvement of public awareness and policy regarding its substantial impacts on our socio-ecosystems. One option to contribute to this overall objective is to inform people on the economic costs linked to these impacts; however, until now, a reliable synthesis of invasion costs has never been produced at a global scale. Here, we introduce InvaCost as the most up-to-date, comprehensive, harmonised and robust compilation and description of economic cost estimates associated with biological invasions worldwide. We have developed a systematic, standardised methodology to collect information from peer-reviewed articles and grey literature, while ensuring data validity and method repeatability for further transparent inputs. Our manuscript presents the methodology and tools used to build and populate this living and publicly available database. InvaCost provides an essential basis (2419 cost estimates currently compiled) for worldwide research, management efforts and, ultimately, for datadriven and evidence-based policymaking.

We are a diverse bunch of people in the Pacific region, which spans about one third of the earth's surface and encompasses about half of the global sea surface. Natural enemies can be used to restore natural balance between weeds and the environment by introducing the enemies where they are needed.

Many invasive plants are successful by producing large numbers of seeds easily transported by wind, water and animals. However invasions are started almost exclusively through the actions of people.