Bare Nature. The Biopolitical Logic of the International Regulation of Invasive Alien Species

Abstract

There is a general and widespread consensus on the negative impacts of invasive alien species on biological diversity. Invasive alien species are indeed considered a fundamental threat for endemic biological diversity. Their introduction to novel environments is often described, eloquently, as a <i>biological invasion</i>. How is the threat of invasive alien species addressed in international law? This article argues that the international regulation of invasive alien species responds to a biopolitical logic that transforms certain species into ‘bare nature’, ie a nature that can be unproblematically killed—through eg eradication programmes—in order to protect other species. It is precisely this biopolitical aporia that I endeavour to render visible, whereby in order to protect life (ie biodiversity), law sanctions the killing of (other) life, namely invasive alien species.