12.D.2 Costing the impacts of invasive animals:
Socio-economic workshop

In November 2005, the Detection and Prevention Program hosted an international workshop on measuring the socio-economic costs of invasive animals. Proceedings of this workshop, Costing the Impacts of Invasive Animals are available (see Documents section of this page). The main aim of the workshop was to find ways of updating the report Counting the Cost: Impact of Invasive Animals in Australia 2004 (see Documents section). This report was commissioned by the Pest Animal Control CRC and conservatively estimated the economic, environmental and social impacts of 11 major introduced pests of Australian agricultural industries and the environment. While focusing mainly on direct economic costs, such as loss of stock, the report acknowledged gaps in knowledge and considered social and environmental impacts in more qualitative terms.

The workshop brought together experts from a variety of fields, including economics, sociology and ecology. Presentations on measuring social, environmental and economic impacts provided examples of the various models and methods that can be used to calculate costs. Group discussions aimed to identify gaps in current knowledge and recommend alternative ways to estimate the costs of vertebrate pests to Australia.

Participants agreed that if a dollar value is to be applied to environmental impacts, figures need to be based on the impacts on the whole ecosystem/species/population, rather than simply extrapolating costs obtained from individual animals. Currently, estimating environmental values is hampered by a lack of knowledge of biophysical relationships and the long-term responses of the environment (eg changes in biodiversity) to invasive animals.

Information on the type and intensity of social impacts of invasive animals is also currently limited. Workshop participants suggested a range of indicators that would be useful to monitor social impacts, including media interest, ministerials, participation in forums and rural/regional health. Case studies were recommended as a way to highlight finer-scale social impacts.

Although economics reporting was considered the most advanced of the three forms of impact assessment, participants agreed that further analyses could be done on invasive animals. Impact analysis, project evaluation and bioeconomic modelling could be used to determine costs of specific pests and to assess the success of control programs.

The participants agreed that an updated report combining environmental, social and economic impacts would be useful for setting research priorities and for applying to funding bodies. Combining qualitative and quantitative analyses would provide the most accurate reflection of invasive animal impacts. However, it was also recognised that there is a need for dollar-based reports to highlight the issues of vertebrate pests to government agencies, politicians and funding bodies. The difficulties of producing such a report were acknowledged, and present a challenge for the Detection and Prevention program to address!

As a follow-up from the workshop, research is now underway to reassess the costing of invasive animal impacts (see Project 12.D.6 Measuring the Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts of Vertebrate Pests). We particularly aim to get a better handle on the less tangible impacts of invasive animals, namely social and environmental costs. The economic costs will also be reassessed applying the most recent economic methodology.