Non-English languages enrich scientific knowledge : The example of economic costs of biological invasions

We contend that the exclusive focus on the English language in scientific researchmight hinder effective communication between scientists and practitioners or policymakerswhose mother tongue is non-English. This barrier in scientific knowledge and data transfer likely leads to significant knowledge gaps and may create biases when providing global patterns in many fields of science. To demonstrate this, we compiled data on the global economic costs of invasive alien species reported in 15 non-English languages. We compared it with equivalent data from English documents (i.e., the InvaCost database, the most up-to-date repository of invasion costs globally). The comparison of both databases (similar to 7500 entries in total) revealed that non-English sources: (i) capture a greater amount of data than English sources alone (2500 vs. 2396 cost entries respectively); (ii) add 249 invasive species and 15 countries to those reported by English literature, and (iii) increase the global cost estimate of invasions by 16.6% (i.e., US$ 214 billion added to 1.288 trillion estimated fromthe English database). Additionally, 2712 cost entries - not directly comparable to the English database - were directly obtained frompractitioners, revealing the value of communication between scientists and practitioners. Moreover, we demonstrated how gaps caused by overlooking non-English data resulted in significant biases in the distribution of costs across space, taxonomic groups, types of cost, and impacted sectors. Specifically, costs from Europe, at the local scale, and particularly pertaining to management, were largely under-represented in the English database. Thus, combining scientific data from English and non-English sources proves fundamental and enhances data completeness. Considering non-English sources helps alleviate biases in understanding invasion costs at a global scale. Finally, it also holds strong potential for improving management performance, coordination among experts (scientists and practitioners), and collaborative actions across countries. Note: non-English versions of the abstract and figures are provided in Appendix S5 in 12 languages. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/).Peer reviewe

The End of Development: A Global History of Poverty and Prosperity

Across the world, millions remain trapped in debilitating poverty, while international aid and development projects have seemingly done little to close the gap between developed and developing nations. Why have some countries grown so rich while others remain so poor? And, how can we account for the persistence of global poverty? In The End of Development, Andrew Brooks answers these questions with a provocative argument that inequality is rooted in the very nature of our approach to development itself. Tracing the long arc of human history, Brooks rejects popular environmental explanations for the divergence of nations, showing that the prosperity of the West and poverty of "the rest" stems not from environmental factors but from the dynamics of capitalism and colonialism, which enriched the powers of the global North at the expense of the South. Rather than address the root causes of this inequality, international development strategies have so far only served to exacerbate them, by imposing crippling debts and destructive policies on developing nations. But, Brooks suggests that this disastrous form of development is now coming to an end, as the emerging economies of Asia and Africa begin to assert themselves on the world stage. In The End of Development he urges that we must seize this opportunity to transform attitudes towards inequality and to develop radical new approaches to addressing global poverty. -- Provided by publisher. Introduction: What's Wrong With Development? -- PART I MAKING THE MODERN WORLD: Environmental determinism and early human history -- Colonizing the world -- America: making the modern world -- PART II DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE: Anticipating modernity -- The resource curse and the debt crisis -- East Asian tigers -- PART III AFTER DEVELOPMENT: -- Is Africa rising? -- Depoliticizing development -- What next? The end of developmen