BIOSECURITY ENVIRONMENT

New Zealand enjoys some rare advantages in the implementation of effective forest biosecurity; an island nation with defined entry and exit sites, a developed economy, an educated population, and well developed infrastructure. These characteristics make effective biosecurity achievable at acceptable cost and with minimal disruption to the movement of goods and people.

Vulnerability

The past 150 years shows ample evidence of the vulnerability of New Zealand’s indigenous, exotic, and urban forests, to exotic animals and plants, many intentionally introduced. While indigenous forests have shown resilience to exotic insects and diseases in the past, possibly due to their strong botanical difference to those of our major trading partners, such a situation may not continue in the future. Increasing trade with countries of South America and other countries with major Nothofagus forests, and trade with new partners, may bring increased threats to our indigenous forests. Unlike most agricultural and horticultural crops the insect and disease fauna of the world’s forests are poorly described making it difficult to predict what is a threat, what is likely to establish, and what the resulting impact will be.

Exotic plantation forests enjoy enhanced productivity partly as a result of the low number of insects and diseases present in New Zealand. Records going back 40 years show a number of potentially very serious pests are regularly intercepted at our borders, clearly demonstrating the risk of new establishments exists. Pests and diseases have established in the past and some place significant constraints and/or costs on the growing of particular plantation forest species. The increasing scope and volume of trade suggest effective biosecurity strategies and standards will be fundamental to the future profitability of the commercial forestry sector.

Realistic Exclusion

Entry points of goods and people can be clearly identified for our country. While the definition of the actual border may vary, ie containers may be unpacked at sites removed from a port, the entry point is identifiable for the purposes of implementing biosecurity standards. The general principals of quarantine have been applied at this border for many years and have in general been effective. The key to the future effectiveness of border quarantine will be in the prioritising of risk goods, identifying and responding to risk change due to changes in trade, and continuously monitoring and adopting new biosecurity strategies. While the costs of effective biosecurity will almost certainly rise, there is little doubt they are presently well below the value of the benefits received.

Phytosanitary Assurance

The increasing recognition by trading countries worldwide that biosecurity is a global affair and that there are benefits to all parties of minimising the movement of insects and diseases between countries, is generating a collaborative approach to biosecurity. Such relationships rely not just on mutual biosecurity benefits but also enhanced monetary returns from trade. Increasingly phytosanitary certificates, quality assurance programmes, and agreed off shore inspection protocols are more than just words on paper. They reflect a commitment to ensure as far as possible goods are not contaminated with insects and diseases, and the realisation that the cost of system failure can be high to both parties. Co-operative and collaborative initiatives in biosecurity will almost certainly become an increasing feature of trading relationships between countries.