Germany’s Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI) has identified a range of events it will target to mark the 2020 International Year of Plant Health. In particular, JKI will be driving home the message that the global trade in plants means there is a permanent risk of pests and diseases being introduced into regions where they are not indigenous.
The ENDURE partner institute launched its activities at Berlin’s International Green Week in January and has produced an animated video showing what everyone should bear in mind when ordering plants on the internet (available on YouTube, see below for details).
“Plant health is not the same as plant protection,” explained Dr Bernhard C. Schäfer, head of the JKI institute responsible for plant health issues. “Rather, the aim is to prevent non-indigenous harmful organisms such as insects, fungi, bacteria, viruses or even plants from being introduced unnoticed into Europe or Germany. Such harmful organisms can pose considerable risks for domestic agriculture and for the economy as a whole, and can also have a highly negative impact on biodiversity.”
The European Union has a comprehensive set of regulations for dealing with quarantine pests, with JKI playing a key role in their implementation in Germany. At International Green Week, JKI presented some of these invasive pests, including the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa which threatens olive cultivation in southern Europe (pictured above right), and provided information on preventing their spread.
JKI has emphasised that the threat does not arise only from international trade with huge amounts of plants. “As tourists, private individuals can also unintentionally bring pests with them from their holidays,” it says.
Later this year, JKI will be sharing these messages at a variety of events, including the International Travel Trade Show in Berlin, September’s German Plant Protection Conference in Göttingen and October’s International Plant Health Conference in Helsinki. It will also be reaching out to the general public through events including the Long Night of the Sciences in Berlin and open days.
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