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In Europe, and particularly in Spain and Portugal, the public, managers and other key groups involved with invasive alien species (IAS) have a limited understanding of the threats and issues posed by these IAS. This makes it difficult to mobilize relevant sectors and other stakeholders for management and control, especially with introductions that do not affect human health or important economic interests. IAS and their impacts are poorly understood and often considered to have little socioeconomic effect.

The objective of the project has been to increase public and stakeholder awareness of the Problems caused by invasive alien species (IAS) in aquatic ecosystems and develop key tools to improve an efficient early warning and rapid response framework for new IAS in freshwater habitats and estuaries.

It has had the following specific objectives:

• Support the EU IAS Regulation by engaging and creating synergies between knowledge building and management stakeholders.
• Improve Iberian capacity for early detection and rapid response by raising awareness and training of key groups.
• Raise public awareness of the threats caused by aquatic IAS.

• Diagnosis of the situation and development of basic instruments and communication tools for an efficient early warning and rapid response framework.
• Trans-Iberian communication and information campaign for public administration, decision-makers, NGOs and the scientific community.
• Raise public awareness and increase their involvement in IAS monitoring and data collection.
• Multiply impact and lessons learned through dissemination of results and lessons learned.

LIFE INVASAQUA has coordinated the elaboration of inventories on species already present and those species with a higher risk of reaching the Iberian aquatic systems, and lists of priority species have been drawn up.

In addition, more than 90 training events for key sectors have been developed, in which around 3,000 people have participated, such as surveillance agents, and people related to the use of rivers and estuaries, such as fishermen or water sportsmen. With the general public in mind, campaigns have been developed mainly through social networks.

The project has also developed a web platform on Iberian aquatic invasive species with 233 visible taxa and more than 21,800 records.