BIOSECURITY IMPERATIVES

Present concerns for New Zealand’s forest biosecurity tend to be grouped around seven issues:

• increasing pathways and speed of entry of insects and diseases;

• the need for more resources and improved targeting to implement effective quarantine;

• the cost of detecting new incursions;

• the increasing value of resource being protected;

• the cost of eradicating new establishments;

• the impact of biosecurity strategies on trade; and

• the provision of phytosanitary assurances.

Incursion Pathways

The identification of pathways by which insects and diseases can enter the country is fundamental to the allocation of limited resources at the border. Risk pathways vary with changes in trading partners and the goods traded, and the origin of visitors to our shores. For example 10 years ago there was virtually no trade in used Japanese cars while today 120,000 units a year cross our wharves. Containerisation provides new pathways not only by the goods carried but also by the containers themselves, and extends the border environment to devanning sites away from traditional wharves. Increased air transport of both people and goods make pathways through international airports increasingly important. The identification and evaluation of pathways both old and new is an essential component of biosecurity strategy development.

Costs of Exclusion

The exclusion of pests and diseases at our borders is of necessity based on sampling strategies involving an examination of only a proportion of risk material. Efforts to better quantify these risks and the probability of detecting a pest or disease at different sampling levels, suggest inspection levels should be lifted in a number of areas. Most of the costs of quarantine are directly related to the level of inspection and involve the inspector’s time and the movement of containers etc. The effectiveness of quarantine inspections also depends on accessibility to goods and packaging, which for containers improves when they are unpacked. Follow-up inspections on containerised goods and packaging are expensive and time consuming. Exclusion costs are not only incurred at seaports, but also airports and international mail receiving centres. All entry points must be considered in prioritising the allocation of resources. All present evidence suggests increased resources in a number of areas would be far exceeded by biosecurity benefits.

Costs of Detection

It is unrealistic to expect exclusion strategies to prevent the establishment of all new forest insects and diseases. When new establishments occur their early detection greatly increases the chances of effective containment and/or eradication. An essential component of a forest biosecurity strategy is the monitoring of environments in which new establishments might be expected to occur. Such areas include forested areas, both exotic and indigenous, but more importantly those areas surrounding points of entry, such as airports and seaports, within which new insects and diseases have historically been found. The identification and prioritisation of high-risk areas is central to an effective strategy which specifies the actual frequency and methods of survey to be used. It is also important to recognise that the status of particular sites changes over time, particularly those associated with industrial sites and the destination of containerised cargo. Thirty years of surveillance data has already made a valuable contribution to modelling such changes. It is already evident that forest biosecurity could be considerably enhanced by increased levels of detection survey, provided such efforts are directed at identified high risk sites.

Increasing Values

The plantation forestry sector now forms a significant part of New Zealand’s economy, third largest by export value. In addition its direct value, planted area and individual ownership has greatly increased over the past decade. The continued development and investment in commercial forestry will be affected by risk, one component of which is forest health. Effective biosecurity strategies reduce risk and provide a degree of investor confidence which is essential to a crop having a rotation length in excess of 25 years.

There is an increasing recognition that our indigenous forests are under considerable pressure from introduced animals and weeds, and that the condition of these forests is not only important to the wider New Zealand community, but may also have an important role in the country’s carbon sequestration obligations. Forests already under pressure from damaging agents benefit from biosecurity strategies which prevent further damage from the establishment of exotic insects and diseases.

The true cost of establishing, maintaining, and replacing urban forests, which includes amenity and residential plantings, is now being recognised and preliminary studies suggest its value may equal or exceed that of commercial forests. The damage or loss of parts of this estate not only incurs direct costs but also affects property values. Past establishment records show more new insects and diseases become established in this environment than any other, which is not surprising given its predominance around ports of entry. Biosecurity initiatives should not only focus on the exclusion of new exotic insects and diseases from the urban environment but should also give special attention to such areas for early detection.

Cost of Eradication

Despite favourable biological circumstances there is no automatic assumption that eradication of a new incursion will be undertaken. Increasingly such actions must be justified by examining the costs in relation to the benefits. The most difficult part of this exercise is the unquantifiable nature of many of the variables and the tendency by economists to ignore, or give a zero value to, such variables. The decision of whether to act or not on incursions which are finely balanced on the cost/benefit scales, must the driven by the precautionary principle. A key element of such decisions will inevitably be consensus views of technical experts on the importance of individual unquantifiable variables. Not withstanding the uncertainty elements of this evaluation process, cost benefit analysis will play an important role in the decision making process.

Trade Impacts

New Zealand is a trading nation and impediments to the free flow of goods through our ports have significant economic implications. Under international phytosanitary agreements any action taken against goods entering the country must be technically justified. Biosecurity strategies therefore need strong scientific foundations supported by robust technical infra-structure and expertise. The absence of specific insects and diseases from New Zealand facilitates trade in forest products with other countries not wanting to import pests and diseases, the log and timber export trade to the USA being a good example worth some $100 million a year. Effective biosecurity strategies should not only protect New Zealand’s forest resource but should also enhance our trading relationship with other countries.

Phytosanitary Assurances

Countries importing New Zealand forest produce often have phytosanitary requirements similar to our own, and require Government level assurance that their requirements have been met. While the cost of providing such assurances must be met by the exporters involved, MAF Reg must establish and audit the specifications and inspections which will underpin such assurances. It is essential phytosanitary assurances are accepted with confidence by our trading partners and are seen as a responsible contribution to the biosecurity of other countries.