Contacts
Sachiko Morita (44) 7734-543-660 (Cell)
From 4 to 8, December: (221) 775 25 52 51
smorita@worldbank.org
Mademba Ndiaye 221) 338 49 50 00 – (221) 776 37 89 23
mademba@worldbank.org
DAKAR, Senegal, December 3, 2007 —Invasive alien species can cause serious ecological, environmental and health effects if uncontrolled, warns the World Bank.
Over 25 Parliamentary and Ministerial legal experts from 11 Francophone African countriesare in Dakar for a training course on drafting of legal and institutional frameworks for the management of these species. The three day course, organized through the Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP), will take place from December 5-7, 2007. It is funded by the World Bank and the Dutch Government, and this is the second of the two training courses being organized in Africa. The first one took place in Nairobi from November 20-22, 2007, which was attended by over 20 experts from 10 Eastern, Western, and Southern African countries.
In Senegal, where the training course is organized, invasive alien species have had some serious environmental and health impacts. Typhaaustralis, an invasive plant, has out-competed native plants in many parts of the delta, is obstructing access to water, and is encouraging the proliferation of weaverbirds which feed on grains. Moreover, they provide habitat for vectors of waterborne diseases. An explosion of mosquito and snail populations has brought malaria and bilharzia to epidemic proportions in the Senegal Delta region.
Like the first training course in Nairobi, the course in Dakar specifically focuses on the legal and institutional aspects of invasive alien species. It will introduce the course participants to a broad range of key issues, including effective identification and monitoring of ways in which these species are introduced (both intentional and unintentional introduction), regulatory and enforcement challenges, and means to promote regional and international cooperation and collaboration.
For more information about the Global Invasive Species Programme, please visit: http://www.gisp.org/
For more information on the workshop that was held in Nairobi, please see Press Release
The participants are from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, DRC, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Chad, and Cote d’Ivoire.
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