Year of publication 2000

This document provides all Governments and organizations with guidance for developing effective strategies to minimize the spread and impact of invasive alien species. While each country faces unique challenges and will need to develop context-specific solutions, the Guiding Principles give governments clear direction and a set of goals to aim toward. The extent to which these Guiding Principles can be implemented ultimately depends on available resources. Their purpose is to assist governments to combat invasive alien species as an integral component of conservation and economic development. Because these 15 principles are non-binding, they can be more readily amended and expanded through the Convention on Biological Diversity's processes as we learn more about this problem and its effective solutions. According to Article 3 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. Also, while applying these Guiding Principles, due consideration must be given to the fact that ecosystems are dynamic over time and so the natural distribution of species might vary without involvement of a human agent.