Invasive Plants in Tropical Human-Dominated Landscapes: Need for an Inclusive Management Strategy

This chapter argues that solutions to the management of invasive species need to be reworked to take into account the fact that invasive species can impact human livelihoods both negatively and positively. Besides the existing strategies for the management of invasive species, there is a need for alternative strategies in terms of the net benefit they yield, taking of course all benefits and costs into account. A specific case of control of invasive species in largely tropical landscapes is considered, with the attendant problems of human dependence on natural resources as well as lack of investment portfolios to control invasive species. Management strategies are proposed that promote use of the invasive as a way of minimizing the net costs of the invasive species