Public support for invasive alien species eradication programs: insights from the Netherlands

Over the last few decades, the number of invasive alien species (IAS) has increased worldwide. IAS can have negative impacts on biodiversity, human health, and the economy. For a number of reasons, IAS policies and management schemes that have been implemented have not been sufficient to tackle the problem. In this article, we focus on IAS eradication and a main obstacle to eradication, namely a lack of public support. By analyzing three specific cases of IAS eradication in the Netherlands (Indian house crow; Pallas's squirrel; and American bullfrog), we show how factors initially affecting public support for eradication interact with each other and influence the effectiveness of the measures that IAS eradication managers implement in order to achieve support for their eradication programs. Our analysis provides a better understanding of the manipulability of factors affecting public support. Finally, it reveals concrete measures that IAS managers can implement in order to gain public support. A lesson for IAS eradication managers is that they can effectively aim for support for eradication, even if low public support for eradication is to be expected in first instance. In addition, this article provides insight into practical measures that IAS eradication managers can implement.