It is shown by practical production activities that no country has enough plant and animal genetic resources, thus the introduction of additional plant and animal species with the aim of increasing the gene bank, production and farming output has long captured the world's attention. While some species have positive impact, some other species impose negative impact on biodiversity where they enter and leave harmful consequences to the economy of the importing country.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has made recommendation on 100 alien species invading native species, adversely affecting the environment and damaging the economy.
In Vietnam, invasive alien species, the most notable of which include yellow snails, mimosa trees, red eared- turtles, Japanese leopard; have caused much damage to the irrigation system, agriculture, and biodiversity, economic.
In particular, the yellow snail, which was imported into Vietnam about 10 years ago, has quickly spread from the Mekong Delta to Central and Northern provinces, seriously spoiling rice and vegetables of the locals. Hundreds of millions Vietnam dong has been spent by the State to destroy yellow snails but it has failed to bring the desired effect.
Many preventive measures to abandon yellow snail has been studied and applied, including picking and abolishing snails and snail eggs by hand, using ducks and fish to kill snails and snail eggs; using toxic plants, leaf traps; digging traps on the canals in the field; making grills preventing snails and eggs in trenches, proper use of fertilizers, adjustment of water and stubble after harvest.
Given that biodiversity and sustainable development have become the top priority of Vietnam and many other countries in the world, the management and control of invasive alien species are currently pressing problems. Recently, the Prime Minister signed Decision No. 1896/QD-TTg approving the project to prevent and control invasive alien species in Vietnam until 2020.
The projects focuses on capacity of State management agencies and quarantine units in the control of invasive species involving scheduling, tracking records of exotic species imported into Vietnam; training leaders and management professionals working in the Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Plant Protection of provinces and cities under the Central Government, the Management Board on the prevention and control of invasive alien species. From 2013-2020, the project will carry our programs to control and eradicate severe invasive alien species in Vietnam such as: yellow snail, mimosa pigra and pudica.
Phương Anh