public—Pretoria’s famous South American jacaranda trees are a prime example. It
has nonnative salmonids that threaten native fishes but are prized by anglers who
challenge legislative efforts to limit invasion. It has critics from within and outside of
South Africa, mostly from the social sciences or humanities, who ignore or downplay invasion impacts on native species and ecosystems and depict the entire
enterprise of managing nonnative species as a manifestation of xenophobia or
even a legacy of apartheid. All of these socio-ecological problems concerning policy
and management of invasive nonnative species have analogs elsewhere, and
South Africa’s extensive history of dealing with such issues may help guide other
nations in their efforts to resolve similar controversies.
Finally, it is important to recognise that the major part of the growth of a
sophisticated invasion science in South Africa has occurred since the abolition of
apartheid and first universal elections in 1994. Thus, this ambitious effort has
occurred in the context of a radical change in governance and a monumental struggle
to erase the poverty of the majority of its citizens. The initiation of Working for
Water and the extensive educational and outreach programs of the Centre for
Invasion Biology are striking manifestations of the dual urgent objectives
South Africa has set for itself, and the challenges faced by other nations leading
the growth of modern invasion science pale in comparison.
In light of the long history of biological invasions in South Africa, its leading role
in confronting them in a difficult and complex sociopolitical context, and its large
corps of scientists who have devoted their lives to understanding their impacts and
how to address them, it is exciting that all aspects of the issue are now summarised in
Biological Invasions in South Africa. We owe the editors and authors our gratitude
for presenting their insights. The lessons from South Africa inspire some optimism
that, with appropriate willpower and effort, invasions are one significant global
change that can be contained and partially redressed without the massive, irrevocable
damage to native biodiversity and ecosystems that has characterised much of the
global picture.
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN, USA
Daniel Simberloff
Foreword
vii
has nonnative salmonids that threaten native fishes but are prized by anglers who
challenge legislative efforts to limit invasion. It has critics from within and outside of
South Africa, mostly from the social sciences or humanities, who ignore or downplay invasion impacts on native species and ecosystems and depict the entire
enterprise of managing nonnative species as a manifestation of xenophobia or
even a legacy of apartheid. All of these socio-ecological problems concerning policy
and management of invasive nonnative species have analogs elsewhere, and
South Africa’s extensive history of dealing with such issues may help guide other
nations in their efforts to resolve similar controversies.
Finally, it is important to recognise that the major part of the growth of a
sophisticated invasion science in South Africa has occurred since the abolition of
apartheid and first universal elections in 1994. Thus, this ambitious effort has
occurred in the context of a radical change in governance and a monumental struggle
to erase the poverty of the majority of its citizens. The initiation of Working for
Water and the extensive educational and outreach programs of the Centre for
Invasion Biology are striking manifestations of the dual urgent objectives
South Africa has set for itself, and the challenges faced by other nations leading
the growth of modern invasion science pale in comparison.
In light of the long history of biological invasions in South Africa, its leading role
in confronting them in a difficult and complex sociopolitical context, and its large
corps of scientists who have devoted their lives to understanding their impacts and
how to address them, it is exciting that all aspects of the issue are now summarised in
Biological Invasions in South Africa. We owe the editors and authors our gratitude
for presenting their insights. The lessons from South Africa inspire some optimism
that, with appropriate willpower and effort, invasions are one significant global
change that can be contained and partially redressed without the massive, irrevocable
damage to native biodiversity and ecosystems that has characterised much of the
global picture.
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN, USA
Daniel Simberloff
Foreword
vii