Asia-Pacific Database for Invasive Alien Species
Toward this end, the Asian-Pacific Alien Species Database (APASD) was introduced by the National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences (NIAES), Japan at an international seminar held in 2003, as a means to facilitate accumulation and sharing of recent information on IAS among countries in the Asian region. Since its introduction, aspects of the APASD system have been improved, such as, the addition of function to convert the English language APASD to other languages, and data input has continued. A follow-up workshop was held in 2004 aimed to establish a constructive cooperation mechanism to further build up the database.
On September 18-22, 2006, FFTC organized the third of this series of workshops, co-sponsored by NIAES, Japan; the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ), COA, Taiwan; and the Taiwan Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute (TACTRI), COA. Held in Taichung, Taiwan, the workshop aimed to further improve and update the APASD system to make it more functional and user-friendly. During the presentation and workshop sessions, 15 speakers representing 7 countries in Asia shared and exchanged information, knowledge and experiences on the status of the development of the APASD, and critical issues concerning alien invasive species in each country.
There is clearly a great concern among countries in Asia on the increasing rate of introduction of invasive alien species (IAS). The economic damage and ecological impacts caused by these IAS have also been increasing, such that different countries have established their own system/mechanism for early detection, emergency control, integrated pest management (IPM), and risk assessment to prevent spread and potential damages and losses.
To cope with the concern on IAS, the APASD system must be made more functional and user-friendly, and must have a good interface and working link with the various projects and databases on invasive alien species worldwide. Toward the development, refinement, improvement, and more efficient exchange of information among countries, an APASD network mechanism in the region must be established, aimed at increasing the amount of data inputted into the database. An efficient network of institutions among participating countries, each with a focal person/coordinator, is envisioned to translate into a better/more efficient database operation.
The continuous build-up of APASD is important for the database to benefit every nation in the region in terms of safeguarding their agricultural environment from invasive alien species. However, the success of the APASD will very much depend on the institutional commitment and support of each participating country, primarily in setting up the operational network mechanism for data input and buildup.
Index of Images
Figure 1 Demonstration/workshop on datya input/build-up and other technical components of APASD. (http://apasd-niaes.dc.affrc.go.jp/)
