Native good, non-native bad? Defining troublesome species

This article considers the conceptual thinking behind three recent measures in England, Scotland and the EU in relation to ‘invasive alien species’ and identifies differences in how each defines the scope of the species that are the focus of legislative attention, suggesting underlying conceptual differences – and maps those differences onto the Convention on Biodiversity definitions. It argues that whilst there are some similarities in legal definitions, the differences reveal underlying fault lines, barely concealed by the pervasive reliance upon lists of species as the tool for offering clarity