What starts with laughter ends in tears: Invasive alien species regulations should not hinder scientific research
Abstract Biological invasions represent one of the major threats to the world's biodiversity. National and international efforts are taken to address the complexity and dynamic of invasions in legislation. However, based on the Polish experience of implementing the European Union's regulat...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Conservation Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12986 |
| _version_ | 1797300984559435776 |
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| author | Agata Pietrzyk‐Kaszyńska Agnieszka Olszańska Kamil Najberek Rafał Maciaszek Wojciech Solarz |
| author_facet | Agata Pietrzyk‐Kaszyńska Agnieszka Olszańska Kamil Najberek Rafał Maciaszek Wojciech Solarz |
| author_sort | Agata Pietrzyk‐Kaszyńska |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Biological invasions represent one of the major threats to the world's biodiversity. National and international efforts are taken to address the complexity and dynamic of invasions in legislation. However, based on the Polish experience of implementing the European Union's regulation on invasive alien species (IAS), we suggest that an unclear and disorganized process of law implementation results in the regulations being counterproductive. We describe how a well‐planned policy can become a burden impeding effective research and, consequently, scientific feedback to improve the policy. The results of our study suggest that there is a large scale of scientists' noncompliance with new legal requirements. For many researchers, the implementation of the new IAS regulation was changing the rules in the middle of the game. Researchers strictly following the new regulations must wait for the relevant permits and may risk the successful completion of their projects. Conversely, researchers who prioritize project completion may be forced to continue their research violating the law. We argue that this example of implementing the new IAS regulation illustrates the need to include some intermediate solutions providing more flexibility and time for researchers to adjust to policy change, thus minimizing the negative impacts of the new legislature on scientific progress. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T23:15:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3b2fe95166d64400bf2ea5d2b56373d3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1755-263X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T23:15:49Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Conservation Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-3b2fe95166d64400bf2ea5d2b56373d32024-02-21T11:44:42ZengWileyConservation Letters1755-263X2024-01-01171n/an/a10.1111/conl.12986What starts with laughter ends in tears: Invasive alien species regulations should not hinder scientific researchAgata Pietrzyk‐Kaszyńska0Agnieszka Olszańska1Kamil Najberek2Rafał Maciaszek3Wojciech Solarz4Institute of Nature Conservation Polish Academy of Sciences Krakow PolandInstitute of Nature Conservation Polish Academy of Sciences Krakow PolandInstitute of Nature Conservation Polish Academy of Sciences Krakow PolandDepartment of Animal Genetics and Conservation Institute of Animal Sciences Warsaw University of Life Sciences Krakow PolandInstitute of Nature Conservation Polish Academy of Sciences Krakow PolandAbstract Biological invasions represent one of the major threats to the world's biodiversity. National and international efforts are taken to address the complexity and dynamic of invasions in legislation. However, based on the Polish experience of implementing the European Union's regulation on invasive alien species (IAS), we suggest that an unclear and disorganized process of law implementation results in the regulations being counterproductive. We describe how a well‐planned policy can become a burden impeding effective research and, consequently, scientific feedback to improve the policy. The results of our study suggest that there is a large scale of scientists' noncompliance with new legal requirements. For many researchers, the implementation of the new IAS regulation was changing the rules in the middle of the game. Researchers strictly following the new regulations must wait for the relevant permits and may risk the successful completion of their projects. Conversely, researchers who prioritize project completion may be forced to continue their research violating the law. We argue that this example of implementing the new IAS regulation illustrates the need to include some intermediate solutions providing more flexibility and time for researchers to adjust to policy change, thus minimizing the negative impacts of the new legislature on scientific progress.https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12986biological invasionsinvasive alien species researchpolicy implementationresearchersscience‐policy interface |
| spellingShingle | Agata Pietrzyk‐Kaszyńska Agnieszka Olszańska Kamil Najberek Rafał Maciaszek Wojciech Solarz What starts with laughter ends in tears: Invasive alien species regulations should not hinder scientific research Conservation Letters biological invasions invasive alien species research policy implementation researchers science‐policy interface |
| title | What starts with laughter ends in tears: Invasive alien species regulations should not hinder scientific research |
| title_full | What starts with laughter ends in tears: Invasive alien species regulations should not hinder scientific research |
| title_fullStr | What starts with laughter ends in tears: Invasive alien species regulations should not hinder scientific research |
| title_full_unstemmed | What starts with laughter ends in tears: Invasive alien species regulations should not hinder scientific research |
| title_short | What starts with laughter ends in tears: Invasive alien species regulations should not hinder scientific research |
| title_sort | what starts with laughter ends in tears invasive alien species regulations should not hinder scientific research |
| topic | biological invasions invasive alien species research policy implementation researchers science‐policy interface |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12986 |
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