Spread of Invasive Alien Plants when Handling Soil Masses : an Examination of Routines in Municipalities of Sweden

Dealing with invasive alien species (IAS), have become a more common problem for themunicipalities of Sweden over the past years. IAS is one of the largest threats to biologicaldiversity and the spread of invasive alien plants is caused by transportation, travel, climatechanges but also infrastructure projects. Thus, the risk of spreading them must be dealt withearly in the progress of handling soil masses. This study examines if recommended routines(with the aim of reducing the risk of spreading invasive plants) are incorporated inmunicipalities and how well they function. It further examines if routines for invasive plantsare related to the size of the municipality, due to differences in economy and resources. Aform was sent to all 290 municipalities in Sweden and 132 answered. The results show thatmany of the recommended routines are not well incorporated across municipalities. Routineswith demands of knowledge about IAS to coworkers or entrepreneurs is less functioning thanroutines of intern information, such as where invasive plants are established on propertiesthat’s own by municipalities. Results show that available resources and economy due to sizeof the municipalities do not influence the level of incorporation of routines. It’s warranted formunicipalities to establish functioning routines within the organization to prevent increasingspread of invasive alien plants in an early stage. The issue should be addressed in decisionsmade by politicians to confirm the level of priority since the benefits of prevention is higherthan benefits of elimination and eradication.