LIFE INVASAQUA - AQUATIC INVASIVE ALIEN SPECIES OF FRESHWATER AND ESTUARINE SYSTEMS: AWARENESS AND PREVENTION IN THE IBERIAN PENINSULA. Project Visibility, Impact & Lessons Learned.

Abstract

The Spanish and Portuguese societies have a limited understanding of the threats posed by invasive alien species (IAS) in aquatic ecosystems. This gap of knowledge and awareness about IAS problems hampers any policy proposed by administrations and stakeholders, contributing to missing an IAS management strategy. We present the final results, impacts and some learned lessons achieved in the Environmental Governance and Information LIFE project—LIFE INVASAQUA—that will run between 2018 and 2023 in the Iberian Peninsula. The main goal of INVASQUA was to increase the Iberian public and stakeholders’ awareness of aquatic IAS problems and to develop instruments and tools that will improve an efficient management and Early Warning and Rapid Response frameworks for IAS in freshwater and estuarine ecosystems. This Technical Report focus on the project visibility results, main impact of actions and developed activities and outcomes of the project to explore some of the problems and lessons encountered in the implementation.