Municipalities are losing out to dangerous species. They must act at the expense of property managers

• NIK negatively assesses the actions of public administration in the field of recognizing and combating invasive alien species of plants and animals (IAS).
• All the audited municipalities did not conduct a comprehensive identification of invasive species in their area.
• The head of a commune, mayor or city president is responsible for taking remedial action against IGOs ​​that pose a threat to the Union and Poland and are spread on a large scale.

Invasive alien species pose a serious threat to the natural environment. The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services warns in a report published in September 2023 that invasive alien species (IAS) pose a global threat to biodiversity . In 60% of recorded cases, they were the main cause of global plant and animal extinctions, and in 16% - the only cause.

It is estimated that there are over 12,000 alien species in Europe. Around 10-15% of them have reproduced and spread, causing significant environmental, economic and social damage, which amounts to at least €12 billion per year in the European Union and is increasing.

In the Act on Alien Species, which entered into force on 18 December 2021 and was intended to adapt the national system for combating invasive alien species of plants and animals to the requirements of the regulation of the European Parliament, an important role in the system for eliminating invasive alien species of plants and animals established by the Act was entrusted to commune heads, mayors and city presidents.

They are responsible, among other things, for receiving reports of the presence of IGOs ​​in the environment, verify the formal report and notify the appropriate environmental protection authorities. The mayor, mayor or city president is also responsible for taking remedial action against IGOs ​​that pose a threat to the Union and Poland, spread on a large scale.

These tasks were entrusted to commune heads, mayors and city presidents as the commune’s own tasks .

As the Supreme Audit Office notes, this results in the need to secure financial resources for their implementation. Although there are available financing options for tasks related to the elimination of IGO plants and animals (e.g. programs of provincial funds for environmental protection and water management), they mainly concern the control of hogweed species (Sosnowsky and Mantegazzi).

It should be emphasized that effective counteracting of IGOs ​​requires systemic solutions, including stable and predictable financing, taking into account all threats and actions necessary to limit damage to the environment, economy or human health.

- writes NIK.

According to the Chamber, most of the audited municipalities did not correctly define tasks related to combating invasive species in municipal environmental protection programs. Five municipalities did not adopt such a program, and in three such documents were not in force throughout the period covered by the audit. In turn, in six out of 12 offices where such programs were in force, they did not include tasks related to the issue of recognizing and combating IGOs, despite the fact that such species occurred in the area of ​​each of these municipalities.

According to NIK, the preparation and adoption of environmental protection plans is essential for the proper functioning of the environmental management system, as the provisions contained therein integrate all activities and documents concerning environmental protection at the municipal level . Moreover, 10 out of 17 audited offices did not cooperate with other bodies and institutions in counteracting the spread of IGOs.

None of the audited offices conducted a comprehensive assessment of the number and scale of IGO presence in the natural environment of the communes. The results of the assessment of the occurrence of invasive plant sites commissioned by the Supreme Audit Office may indicate such a need. In the audited communes, the experts identified a total of 246 previously unidentified IGO plant sites . In addition, the experts identified sites of Sosnowsky's hogweed in six communes that posed a threat to human life and health (they were located near schools, residential buildings, roads and pavements).