On 1 June 2018, the Interregional Parliamentary Council (ICC) issued a recommendation concerning invasive plants and animal species in the Greater Region, following the meeting of Committee 4 “Environment and Agriculture” on 27 April 2018 in Remerschen, Luxembourg.

Original document

• Recommandation-CPI-C4_1.6.18
• Empfehlung-IPR-K4_1.6.18

Excerpt of the recommendations (translated)

The Interregional Parliamentary Council

1. calls for consistency in the implementation of management measures and objectives (eradication, control, containment) and further exchanges on management methods and priority intervention sites for efficient use of resources;
2. strongly emphasises the need for coordinated prevention and control actions throughout the Greater Region, on a cross-border basis;
3. invites all partners in the Greater Region to draw up an exhaustive inventory of public and private bodies responsible for implementing research and methods to combat invasive species;
4. proposes to support existing mechanisms, such as www.neobiota.lu, for the exchange of information on control methods and the sharing of good practices that have proved effective;
5. calls for citizens to be informed about the presence of invasive plant and animal species in the Greater Region, the related health and economic risks, and the preventive measures to be taken to protect themselves;
6. hopes that professionals selling seeds, landscape gardeners and farmers will be made aware of this approach in order to encourage the use of local plant species;
7. recommends systematic reporting, the development of common tools for identifying and monitoring the most widespread species in the Greater Region, the introduction of monitoring and early detection of the most dangerous species (warning network) and the development of exchanges of good practice at cross-border level;
8. encourages the control of invasive plants by innovative methods that respect the environment, such as eco-grazing techniques;
9. hopes that the problem of invasive alien species will be included in school biology courses in order to encourage responsibility from an early age;
10. stresses the principle of proportionality in order to safeguard animal welfare as far as possible, to take account of the cost-effectiveness of the measures put in place and of environmental protection, in particular by avoiding excessive use of pesticides to combat invasive plants;
11. calls on the competent authorities to guarantee sustainable sources of funding to run cross-border networks. In this context, European funds are a very interesting financial lever, as shown by the INTERREG V project “InvaProtect, Protection durable des végétaux contre les bioagresseurs invasifs dans les orchgers et les vignes” ; a second project being set up, which aims to provide scientific and technical support to administrations and institutions for the assessment and management of the health risk associated with invasive mosquitoes;
12. hopes that the implementation of INTERREG projects on invasive alien species will be encouraged in the Greater Region;
13. welcomes other ongoing projects funded by the EU which make it possible to increase citizens’ awareness and involvement in concrete terms, such as the COST action ‘Increasing understanding of alien species through citizen science’, in which France and Luxembourg are participating, particularly as citizen participation and empowerment are the best way of controlling the negative effects of these invasive alien species;
14. calls for closer cooperation between the Greater Region Summit and the Interregional Parliamentary Council to combat invasive plant and animal species as effectively as possible.

The Interregional Parliamentary Council addresses this resolution:

• to the Government of the French Republic
• to the Grand East Region
• to the Saarland Government
• to the Government of the Land of Rhineland-Palatinate
• to the Governments of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, Wallonia and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation
• to the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
• at the Secretariat of the Summit of the Greater Region

On Tuesday 7th August 2018 from 18:30 to 20:00, in the frame of its Science Tuesdays series, the National Museum of Natural History organised a scientific walk through the Grund district. Dr Christian Ries, curator of the Department of Ecology, gave explanations about a dozen invasive alien species to the 20 people in attendance. In its edition of 9th August 2018, the Luxembourg Newspaper Journal published a small article about the event.

Anonymous, 2018. Ohne Widerstand – Naturmusée-Führung zum Thema invasive Arten. Rubrik Uechter d’Land. Journal 09/08/2018, p. 19.

A public petition (n°1071) for a public health policy that effectively combats the implantation of tiger mosquitoes, vectors of diseases, in Luxembourg, was introduced on 10th July 2018 and is open to signatures until 19th September 2018 (Bomfim 2018).

Text of the petition (translated from French)

This petition aims to start a debate that will lead to a number of effective actions to combat the implantation of tiger mosquitoes in Luxembourg. This invasive species has no natural predators and can not only unbalance the ecosystem, but also bring tropical diseases to Luxembourg. Among the possible actions that should be discussed as a result of this petition, we can list:

• a study of the regions of Luxembourg with the greatest potential for tiger mosquito invasion;
• campaigns to raise public awareness of measures to combat the tiger mosquito (garden maintenance, elimination of stagnant water deposits);
• education campaigns in schools and colleges on the invasiveness of tiger mosquitoes and preventive measures;
• special maintenance and vigilance measures in rest areas where motor homes from southern Europe stop and which potentially contain tiger mosquitoes;
• monitoring the presence of tiger mosquitoes in cities, countryside and forests via traps (instrumentation used for example in Italian regions).

Motivation of the general interest of the petition: The tiger mosquito is a vector of diseases such as dengue, Nile fever and chikungunya. If the invasion of mosquitoes is not controlled, the importation of these diseases will become an additional burden for health services, in days off work and school absence, not to mention a great disturbance for the population and a devaluation of the country’s rural areas.

References

Bomfim, JAS, 2018. Pétition publique n°1071 – Pour une politique de santé publique qui combatte effectivement l’implantation des moustiques tigres, vecteurs de maladies, au Luxembourg. URL: https://chd.lu/wps/portal/public/Accueil/TravailALaChambre/Petitions/RoleDesPetitions?action=doPetitionDetail&id=1274 [08/08/2018].

The European Commission published today in the Official Journal the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/968 of 30 April 2018 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to risk assessments in relation to invasive alien species.

All language versions are available here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2018.174.01.0005.01.ENG&toc=OJ:L:2018:174:TOC

Communicated by the IAS team of the Environment Directorate-General of the European Commission.

Note: All documents and information related to the IAS Regulation can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/invasivealien/

Within the framework of the draft law n°7205 implementing the Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 on IAS ¹, the Luxembourg Parliament TV (Chamber-TV) explains the context in a movie published on Facebook.

→ Link to the video in case your browser doesn’t show the movie on this page.

At the beginning of April 2018 the website neobiota.lu was relaunched. In addition to a new WordPress theme that is still compatible with all possible screen sizes, the 136 Internet pages on which individual invasive species are presented have been updated. On each species page a reporting link is provided which opens the corresponding reporting page on the data portal of the National Museum of Natural History. As soon as a listed invasive alien species is reported, an alert email is automatically sent to members of IAS Group Luxembourg, who dispatch the information to experts in charge of data validation. This procedure constitutes a crucial tool in early detection of IAS.

A number of new Internet pages have been added, including the list of IAS of EU concern and the Black, Watch, Alert Lists and a full listing of IAS relevant to Luxembourg.

If you, dear readers, notice any inconsistencies or typing errors, please do not hesitate to → inform us.

Christian Ries & Manou Pfeiffenschneider