This document discusses biosecurity strategy for plants in Wales. It covers governing and regulating plant health, monitoring threats from plant pests and diseases, and implementing policies. Key aspects include ecosystem resilience, controlling the spread of diseases like Phytophthora ramorum through monitoring and quarantine measures, and raising public awareness of plant health issues. Government agencies, researchers, and industry work together on legislation, surveillance, training, and international cooperation to manage plant health in Wales.

1. Biosecurity strategy for plants
and its implementation in
Wales
David Skydmore

2. Key Points
- Governing, regulating and raising awareness of
plant health in Wales
- Ecosystem resilience in plant health
- Effects and control of plant pests and diseases
- Monitoring threats and risks
- Plant health policy in Wales and UK
- Biosecurity mechanisms

3. Management of plant (including
tree) health in Wales
Policy and
legislation
Research and
surveys
Regulation and
Implementation
Charity and
Trade
Training
Impact on businesses Impact on public
Functions in Biosecurity

4. Policy and legislation
Welsh Government
Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs
Natural
Resources
Wales
(Westminster) Defra
(Department for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs)
APHA
Forestry
Commission
European
Commission

5. Research Surveys and
Technical Notes
Defra or Welsh Government
agencies and statutory
bodies
FERA
(FERA Science
Ltd.,
previously Food
and Environment
Research
Agency)
Natural Resources
Wales
AHDB
(Agriculture and
Horticulture
Development Board)
AHDB Horticulture
UK Government non-
ministerial agencies
FSA (Food
Standards
Agency)
Forestry
Commission
Forest
Research
UK Research and
Innovation
( Research
Councils e.g.
BBSRC, NERC)
Universities and research
institutions
Rural Development
Programme

6. Regulation and implementation
Defra or Welsh Government agencies and
statutory bodies
APHA
(Animal and Plant Health
Agency)
Plant Health and Seed
Inspectorate
Natural
Resources
Wales
UK Government Non-
Ministerial Departments
and Agencies
FSA (Food
Standards
Agency)
Forestry
Commission
HSE
(Health and Safety
Executive)
(Chemical
Regulations
Division)
Rural Development
Programme
Farming Connect

7. Charity and trade (examples)
Trade
Arboricultural Association
Confederation of Forest Industries (UK) Ltd
Crop Protection Association
Fresh Produce Consortium
Horticultural Trades Association
Institute of Chartered Foresters

8. Charity and trade (examples)
Charities with land and training functions
National Trust
Royal Horticultural Society
Royal Forestry Society
Smallwoods
Woodland Trust
Scientific (may be charities)
British Society of Plant Pathology
National Biodiversity Network
National Botanic Garden of Wales
Plant Network
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Edinburgh
Royal Society of Biology (Plant Health Professionals Register)

9. European and international Organisations (examples)
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
FAO is an agency whose goal is food security and access to enough high-
quality food. It has 194 member states and works in over 130 countries. It
developed, and works towards, the (Millennium) Sustainable Development
Goals
It is the Convenor of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), a
treaty for "international cooperation in controlling pests of plants and plant
products and in preventing their international spread”. IPPC is governed by the
Commission on Phytosanitary Measures
It has developed (with WHO) the Codex Alimentarius, or "Food Code“, a
collection of standards, and codes of practice adopted by the Codex
Alimentarius Commission. These are a reference in WTO disputes.
European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO)
Under the IPPC, EPPO is a Regional Plant Protection Organization. It is
intergovernmental, responsible for cooperation in plant health within the Euro-
Mediterranean region and has 52 member countries.

10. European and international Organisations (examples)
World Trade Organisation
The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the
"SPS Agreement") is part of the Treaty which founds the WTO. All countries
may set their own standards on requiring products to come from a disease-free
area, on product inspection, treatment or processing of products, and maximum
allowable limits of pesticide residues or permitted use of additives in food. The
SPS Agreement ensures these standards are not arbitrary and do not
discriminate against certain countries and are based on scientific evidence.
European Food Safety Authority
EFSA is a European agency funded by the European Union that operates
independently of the European legislative and executive institutions. It is a
source of scientific advice and communication on risks associated with the food
chain. It contains the EFSA Plant Health (PLH) Panel for which one of the key
tasks is to conduct pest risk assessments
European Crop Protection Association
represents the crop protection industry in Europe.

11. Training (examples)
Lantra
BALI (British Association of Landscape Industries) (ROLO health Safety and Environment
Awareness Course)
Basis Registration Ltd
City and Guilds NPTC (National Proficiency Tests Council)
Landex – Land based Colleges Association
National Land Based College
Further Education
Higher Education

12. Environmental resilience to plant disease and pests
reducing scale of impact reducing incidence
resistance and resilience environmental regulation environmental
of ecological systems literacy solutions in
plant resistance
Resilience in practice

13. Examples of pest and disease
impact
Spruce bark beetle – threat
Larch tree disease – epidemic in
Wales

14. Example of a beetle outbreak
on North American conifers
Dendroctonus ponderosae
Mountain pine bark beetle
Destroyed wide areas of forest
Including 16million hectares of lodgepole
pine in British Columbia.

15. (Dendroctonus ponderosae)
The tree species affected cannot be
replanted because of the continued
occurrence of the insect
and so the landscape has been altered
away from the natural, coniferous,
forest cover.

16. Ips typographus
• Native range in Europe and Asia but not in
UK
• Not a quarantine pest in much of Europe
• Severe threat to UK conifers through mass
attack

17. Forestry Commission
I.typographus contingency plan (2015)
• Annual surveillance
If found:
• No movement of material from site
• Survey surrounding areas
• Establish statutory regulated area (50km radius)
• Trace backwards to source of outbreak
• Remove infested trees and possible hosts from site
• Engage with stakeholders and public to increase
surveillance and enforce phytosanitary measures
• Review effectiveness of measures and refresh when
necessary

18. Phytophthora ramorum
• Water mould (Oomycete), not a fungus
• In UK disease is called “Larch Tree Disease”, in USA “Sudden Oak
Death”
• In UK major host is larch (Larix), and principal other hosts sweet
chestnut (Castanea), Rhododendron, Viburnum, Camellia, Pieris
• Origin: did not arrive from USA.
• First found in UK in 2002 in garden centre in Sussex. First found on
Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi) in SW England in 2009

19. P.ramorum disease spread
• Movement of plants or tools from infected
site
• Movement of soil between sites including
on shoes, tyres
• Splash dispersal of spores by rain or
irrigation
• Water run-off
• Wind dispersal of water droplets and
spores

20. P.ramorum conditions for
disease spread
Ideal conditions promote spread:
• 2°-30°C with optimum 20°C
• Wet winds for long distance dispersal
• Humid conditions for germination of
spores and infection

21. Local containment measures for
P.ramorum
• Monitoring for disease
• Quarantine new plants
• Site hygiene including soil removal from
equipment
• Removing alternate hosts
• Destruction of infected waste
No cure has been found

22. Status of P.ramorum
• P. ramorum is regulated under EU emergency measures (2002/757/EC -
emergency phytosanitary measures to prevent the introduction into and the
spread within the Community )
• This is implemented in Wales by The Plant Health (Forestry) Order 2005
which lists P. ramorum as a Schedule 1 organism (a tree pest which shall
not be introduced into, or spread within Wales).
• These measures are achieved through the use of Statutory Plant Health
Notices (SPHNs) that requiring the felling/killing of infected larch by a
specified date and/or restriction movement of infected material.

23. Key terms in Wales plant
disease containment
• Statutory Plant Health Notice
issued by plant health authorities imposing disease control measures
e.g. felling of trees
• Core Disease Zone
where disease is most prevalent. SPHNs may be issued but no time
limit. Some surveys but not concentrated here
• Disease Limitation Zone
area where spread of disease is to be controlled. SPHN have time
limit. Surveys are concentrated in these zones to find new infections

24. 0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
No.Hectares
Year
SPHN issued for P.ramorum
no. Hectares
Areas in Wales issued each year with Statutory Plant Health Notices
because of Phytophthora ramorum (total by 2018 is 11,190 ha)

25. Plant health legislation key
terms
• Phytosanitary certificates issued for
plants and plant products and show they
are:
• properly inspected;
• free from quarantine harmful organisms
and practically free from other harmful
organisms;
• in line with the plant health regulations of
the importing country.

26. Plant health legislation key
terms
Once in the EU Phytosanitary Certificates can
be replaced by Plant Passports
UK Businesses can issue their own Plant
Passports if they are approved by APHA
Each passport has its unique number and provides
traceability
A country in EU can designate a Protected Zone if
that zone is at risk from a disease present
elsewhere in the EU. Import of potential hosts into
that area is prohibited.

27. Plant Health Policy
UK Government policy documents:
• Protecting Plant Health: A Plant Biosecurity Strategy
for Great Britain (2014)
Sets out over-arching principle of “Risk Based Decision
Making”
Sets up UK Pest Risk Register (March 2019 1028 risk
species on register)
Potential threats are subject to a Pest Risk Analysis (PRA)
• Tree Health Management Plan (2014) – specifically
discusses Oak Processionary Moth

28. Plant Health Policy
Plant Health is a devolved matter under
Plant Health Act 1967 (as amended)
Welsh Government works in partnership with
Animal and Plant Health Agency’s (APHA)
Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate
(PHSI) and Natural Resources Wales
(NRW)

29. Plant Health Policy
Plant Biosecurity Strategy for Great Britain
2020 target:
“Greater awareness of plant biosecurity
among government, industry, NGOs,
landowners and the public who will have
confidence in the plant biosecurity system
and will understand and be committed to
playing their role”

30. Awareness raising
• OPAL (Open Air Laboratories) Tree Health
Survey is designed to raise public awareness
• ObservaTree is a citizen science based Tree
Health Early Warning System

31. Conclusion on biosecurity
mechanisms
• Biosecurity, to stop the introduction and spread
of invasive species, is essential
• The effectiveness of biosecurity measures
depends on education - for recognising
infections and on the purpose and application of
regulations
• This awareness needs to be disseminated to all
growers and producers, and importers and
exporters of plants and plant products, and
citizens
• Brexit will require many changes to UK systems
and biosecurity must be maintained during
transition.