Stakeholder awareness of plant invasions and perceptions of ornamental invasive plants in Southern Africa

Invasive plants have costs and benefits that change over time and space, as do the views on management. Often, successful management requires broader societal buy-in. Hence, unpacking the perceptions of invasive plants from those impacted is important to facilitate management. Targeting a sector with a long history of introductions and invasions —the ornamental industry— we focus on Southern Africa, where studies describing conflicts in managing invasive ornamental plants concentrate in South Africa. We explore how the stakeholders involved in the interplay between the sector and environmental management understand plant invasions and perceive invasive ornamental plants across the sub-region. We generated qualitative data from 78 environmental specialists, 38 ornamental industry staff, and 72 ornamental gardeners from Botswana (104), Namibia (50), Zimbabwe (18), South Africa (13), and Zambia (3). We found that all stakeholder groups understand invasion broadly in the same way as in academia and policymaking. Non-specialists showed they are often aware of ecological processes but do not necessarily use "scientific" terms to describe them. Participants differed in how they perceived specific plants due to specific interests that professions, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, and personal experiences shape. In turn, these factors are influenced by broad socio-ecological and geopolitical dynamics. Differences hinted at conflicts of interest. Nonetheless, stakeholders could agree through relational, balanced, and regular communication, where capacities and knowledge from all sides are valued and respected. Such spaces would need to address the racial and classist segregations shaping mutual power dynamics and perceptions and their relations with invasive plants and landscapes.