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Indonesia is gearing up against a foreign invasion and is hoping to rally its citizens to join the fight.

And the invaders? Non-native species — foreign plants and animals — that threaten one of the nation’s most valuable assets, its unique biodiversity.

The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) on Friday — World Biodiversity Day — outlined its commitment to set out a clear program promoting biodiversity-protection awareness among Indonesians.

The institute is determined to put a much greater effort into encouraging people, especially hobbyists or enthusiasts, to be more aware of several invasive foreign species they might bring into the country.

“The non-native species can have a detrimental effect on the country’s fauna and flora,” said Siti Nuramaliati Prijono, head of LIPI’s Research Center for Biology. “We are now working toward protecting our mega-biodiversity against invasive alien species.”

Biological invasion from foreign species is nowadays believed to be one of the major threats to the survival of indigenous ecosystems and biodiversity, she said.

Siti said the foreign species invading the country’s flora and fauna included organisms that were capable of living outside their natural habitat and could grow rapidly as they had no natural predators, thus becoming weeds, pests and disease threats.

She said that for years the country had been “attacked” by foreign species.

However, many people, including hobbyists, might not understand that some flora and fauna species they brought in were a threat to local habitats.

“Let me give you an example: take a look at the acacia tree,” she said.

It was introduced into Indonesia in 1969 and now has so well established itself that, for example, “in one spot of Baluran National Park in East Java, it had taken over about 50 percent of the savanna area and killed the grass in the process,” she said.

Since then, the national park administrators have bulldozed the trees because “we finally realize that it’s an invasive species.”

Other examples are the giant sensitive tree (mimosa pigra), well known as one of the worst weeds in tropical countries, and water hyacinth, which can choke lakes and ponds.

The golden apple snail or mulberry snail, believed to have been brought in from China in 1984, was admired for its bright yellow eggshell and its soft white clean body and became a popular addition to aquariums. However, Research Center for Biology data shows that the foreign snail has bullied its way into local freshwater ecosystems, taking control and driving out local species, even bringing some native snails species to the brink of extinction.

Not only pests from foreign countries were dangerous, Siti said. The crab-eating macaque, for instance, has become a threat to biodiversity in Papua — with an ecosystem that had never known primates apart from humans — after being carelessly released on the island.

As competitors, predators, pathogens and parasites, invasive foreign species were able to exploit all parts of the natural or indigenous ecosystem to bring about the extinction of native species.

“Non-native species are not only dangerous in themselves, but often also because of the germs they potentially carry,” Siti said.

Related workshops and campaigns will be held by the institution in the near future, in collaboration with interdisciplinary researchers.