ILIAS · Implementing Legislation on Invasive Alien Species: Investigating socio-cultural attitudes in the management of Invasive Alien Species in EU member countries

ILIAS investigates how socio-cultural, affective and scientific perceptions shape the implementation of EU laws for the prevention and management of invasive alien animal and plant species (IAS) in EU member countries. The European Parliament legislates policy responses to a list of 66 IAS of EU concern, but conceptual, socio-cultural and practical barriers prevent collaborative implementation. Key terms such as ‘biodiversity’ or ‘nature’ lack a shared definition; methods for the management and eradication of IAS are controversial; academic experts engage in fractious disagreements. These issues, which complicate unified strategies to prevent and manage IAS across EU member countries, point to implicit and unacknowledged socio-cultural factors that shape human relationships with the environment including religious beliefs, ideas about local identity and heritage and anxieties about environmental change. ILIAS studies these socio-cultural attitudes and framings around species dispersal, their influence on the way scientific evidence and best-practice for IAS management among stakeholder groups are interpreted, and how this affects the implementation of EU laws using interdisciplinary methods and theoretical frameworks. ILIAS is based on the following research questions: How do personal attitudes, beliefs and value judgements among stakeholders shape the implementation in different member countries? How do socio-cultural framings influence the interpretation of scientific evidence? Do the different conceptualisations present barriers in collaborative action and compliance with EU laws and if so, how can a more unified approach be facilitated? The resulting insights will contribute to a better understanding of the barriers to implementing coordinated strategies across EU member countries. They will point to differences in how stakeholders define key concepts, and to the affective, cultural and gendered frameworks that influence how scientific evidence is interpreted.