We hope that an important element of the GCAFE summit will be the drafting of a document that will serve as a snapshot of the current state of affairs related to invasive arthropod species as well as a road map for the development of promising efforts to prevent new invasions and manage existing ones. Attendees will have the opportunity to contribute to this paper throughout the summit. It is not intended to be an advocacy document but instead will be an informational tool for attendees to put to use in a wide variety of ways.  A core focus will be on the importance of narrative, communication, and collaboration.

The paper will serve several purposes. It will be a …

• … communication device to relay important information about invasives to related stakeholders. We’ll use the ABT Narrative Template as we draft the report.
• … state of the science benchmark to document where we are today so that future progress may be measured.
• guidepost to layout a road map of possible future areas of research, exploration, and community efforts.

A draft of the paper has already been prepared in order to facilitate the rapid dissemination of the report after the summit. Attendees of the summit will be provided with a number of ways to add to, correct, edit, and otherwise shape the direction of the report. The pre-summit draft of the outcome statement, which will serve as the framework for the final document ended up differing from the final statement which was published on the GCAFE blog.

As a resource, we also provide this list of invasive species standards and terms, as adopted by the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures of the International Plant Protection Convention..