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Awareness raising on alien species in Slovenia
Author(s) -
Kus Veenvliet J.,
Jogan N.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
eppo bulletin
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.327
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1365-2338
pISSN - 0250-8052
DOI - 10.1111/epp.12115
Subject(s) - legislation , alien , stakeholder , exhibition , business , biodiversity , political science , environmental planning , environmental resource management , environmental protection , public relations , geography , ecology , biology , law , politics , archaeology , citizenship , environmental science
In Slovenia invasive alien species ( IAS ) have been overlooked for many years. Despite a growing body of evidence about the negative impacts of IAS , little attention has been given to the issue on a policy level. Legislation and institutional support have also been poorly developed. IAS have only been studied by a few experts. Among the general public, even the term ‘alien species’ was virtually unknown until recently. In 2008 the first nation‐wide awareness project on IAS , Project Thuja, was launched. During this project many general awareness raising activities were carried out including a travelling exhibition and a brochure for hobby gardeners. A well‐attended conference on IAS brought together stakeholders from governmental and non‐governmental sectors. In April 2012 a follow up project Thuja 2 started. This was directed to target groups (fishermen, pet keepers, pet shop employees, gardeners), to aim to change their practices and thereby limit further introductions of IAS . A web‐based system to report observations of IAS was also established. Through these activities, alien species have been recognised as a serious threat to biodiversity by various stakeholder groups. However, as the projects were carried out by non‐governmental organisations, making improvements on a policy level was limited to expert proposals. These have not yet been implemented and a national policy on IAS is still to be developed.