Monitoring framework
In 2025, under the Shared Island Biosecurity and Invasive Species Initiative, the National Biodiversity Data Centre commissioned a review on the current status of invasive species surveillance and monitoring across the island of Ireland and to design a framework for the implementation of an integrated invasive species monitoring programme.
Summary
Strengthening invasive species surveillance and monitoring across the island of Ireland requires clear governance, integrated monitoring approaches, targeted surveillance of high-risk locations, and standardised data collection and sharing.
To achieve this, a roadmap of strategic recommendations has been set out to guide future steps in the development of a robust and cohesive monitoring programme, and support the achievement of legislative and policy objectives.
The project key messages, ongoing challenges and recommendations is given in the project summary report (No. 01 below).
The project was undertaken in two phases. Phase I involved a review of recent and existing surveillance and monitoring of invasive species (No. 02 below). Phase II focused on creating a surveillance and monitoring framework (No. 03 below). Given the extensive work produced in this project, some outputs have been separated into individual chapter documents.
02 Phase I – Review of Invasive Species Monitoring and Surveillance_Final
04 Invasive Species Monitoring and Surveillance_Ch1_Site and Spps Prioritisation_Final
05 Invasive Species Monitoring and Surveillance_Ch2_Sampling Designs_Final
06 Invasive Species Monitoring and Surveillance_Ch3_Data And Field Methods_Final
07 Invasive Species Monitoring and Surveillance_Ch4_Data and Mapping_Final
08 Invasive Species Monitoring and Surveillance_Supplementary Material_Legislation Summary_Final