Expanding the Resist-Accept-Direct framework for developing nature-based solutions and societal adaptations to biological invasions

Abstract

Biological invasions threaten biodiversity and human well-being, making invasive species management a global necessity. Despite substantial investments in engineering-based management approaches, preventing invasions is becoming harder with rising species introductions. Additionally, widespread use of a few control methods raises ethical concerns, demands long-term human control over natural ecosystems and risks unintended socio-ecological impacts. Hence, there is a growing interest in alternatives that strengthen ecological processes to control invasions, aiming to enhance ecological autonomy while reducing dependence on intensive human control. Nature-based solutions (NbS) for biological invasions coupled with the Resist–Accept–Direct/Adapt (RAD+) framework offer a promising alternative. Here, we define NbS for biological invasions as ‘measures developed to strengthen ecological processes that control biological invasions and their undesirable impacts, enhancing long-term ecological autonomy, resilience, and human well-being, with the potential to scale through ecological and social feedback’. NbS for biological invasions are context-specific, bottom-up and require flexibility for objective application. To guide their contextual implementation, we reconceptualize the RAD+ framework, allowing stakeholders to either resist invasion by strengthening ecological processes that limit invasive species, accept invasions and direct mixed-species communities towards a state with native species dominance, or accept invaded ecosystems and assist societal adaptation to mitigate negative impacts. By reviewing global case studies, we highlight the scalability of NbS across spatiotemporal contexts. These solutions strengthen ecological processes that control invasive species, support native biodiversity and contribute to climate change mitigation, while benefiting and empowering Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. By limiting intensive human control of ecosystems, NbS for biological invasions help address ethical dilemmas associated with lethal and pervasive management practices. Synthesis and applications: Integrating NbS for biological invasions into policies and research using the RAD+ framework can reduce the negative outcomes of human interventions in ecosystems, strengthen ecological autonomy and pave the way for sustainable and socially just approaches to invasive species management.