The biosecurity continuum and trade: Tools for post-border biosecurity

Abstract

About 70,000 pest species damage agricultural crops worldwide. Some of these pests seriously threaten primary production, biodiversity, economy and livelihoods. Post-border biosecurity is an integral part of the biosecurity continuum and it safeguards resources such as agriculture, biodiversity and community from biological threats. Vigilance and preparedness are key activities of post-border biosecurity. Tools such as policy, legislation, regulation, code of practice, scientific technique and technology are employed to achieve post-border biosecurity vigilance and preparedness in responding to pest invasions, estimating pest risks, managing pest area freedoms, providing evidence that a given pest is absent from a region, establishing boundaries of pest containment and monitoring progress of pest incursion responses. Detection of a new or exotic pest generally triggers a cascade of questions - where is it? What is its likely impact? Who will be affected? Can it be eradicated? How much will it cost? and how long will it take? Responding to these and other associated questions can be complex, contentious and time consuming. The National Plant Protection Organisations (NPPOs) generally develop and approve the tools for maintaining vigilance and preparedness. In many instances prior experience and international information from countries where the pest is endemic, or where it has entered and established, or where its incursion was successfully eradicated is used in the development of these tools. This chapter presents an overview of some of the main tools commonly used in post-border biosecurity. Tools include Standards of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), biosecurity legislation and regulation, tools that are used in determining organisational response to detection of new or exotic pests, prioritisation of resources for incursion management, pest risk and economic analyses, diagnostics and surveillance, and eradication, management and communication.