Protecting trees and forests from increasing pests and diseases
Trees, woodlands and forests are essential to our heritage, rural economy, and rural and urban landscapes. The National Ecosystem Assessment identified the contribution of forests through the ecosystem services they provide to society, their direct economic value and social amenity. Trees can also help mitigate climate change by capturing and storing carbon.
Preserving the health of our trees, woodlands and forests is therefore vital, especially in the context of a changing environment and increasing biosecurity threats from tree and plant pests and pathogens new to the United Kingdom.
The Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Action Plan
Defra and the Forestry Commission recently published the Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Action Plan, setting out an integrated approach to dealing with the threats to Britain’s trees and forests. To combat these threats most effectively, civil society must be aware and capable of taking action where needed. Stakeholders from across the forestry and research sectors, including the devolved administrations, contributed to the action plan through a series of workshops to work up priorities and areas for action.
The action plan sets out the actions to be taken now and in the future:
- To minimise the risk of new threats from entering the UK;
- To understand more about the threats;
- To work with society to raise awareness of threats and pathways;
- To identify positive steps to improve the resilience of trees, woodlands, and forests; and
- To ensure an effective evidence base is developed and maintained to inform decisions.
Launching the report in October, Caroline Spelman stressed the need for action:
“If we don’t act now we could end up in a similar situation to the 1970s, when more than 30 million trees in the UK died due to Dutch elm disease. There are new diseases and new threats now, and we need to do everything we can to protect our precious plants, trees and habitats. With the expansion of global trade, especially in live plants, the risk that exotic diseases and pests will be accidentally introduced here grows all the time.”
Action and research
The action plan focuses on four key areas of activity to combat the threat against our trees:
Action has already been taken by Defra and partner organisations, including the opening of the new Plant Reception and Quarantine Unit at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The unit will be used for plants entering and leaving Kew and other organisations, to keep the collections of rare and interesting plants safe from pests and diseases.
The new Plant Reception and Quarantine Unit at Kew (photo courtesy Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew)
The Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera), in association with the Horticultural Trades Association, has published an information poster – Turning over a clean leaf – How to protect your nursery or garden centre from pest and disease invaders – for nurseries and garden centres, to help build trade awareness of biosecurity and how to reduce the risks of plant pests and diseases.
Turning Over a New Leaf poster detail: note 1 provides advice on sourcing plants, 2 on inspecting plants on arrival, 4 on providing information to customers and visitors. Full poster available here…
Fera has also launched films – for both the general public and trade – to provide information and background on why the Citrus longhorn beetle (Anoplophora chinensis) is a problem, how to identify it, symptoms to look out for, and most importantly what to do if it is found or suspected. The beetle is a new threat with the potential to cause severe damage to a wide range of UK broadleaved trees and shrubs. Fera took a giant beetle on a roadshow, speaking to over 8,000 people about the beetle and asking them to survey their gardens, the first time the public have been actively engaged in surveying for a pest.
Further films, highlighting the threat of Phytophthora across different habitats and how to help avoid it, will be launched in spring 2012.
Taking action and preparing for new threats
Pam Warhurst, Forestry Commission Chair, welcomed the action plan and its help to tackle existing and new pests and diseases:
“There are few more urgent issues that we in the forestry sector need to focus our attention on, so I’m delighted that this Action Plan has been launched to enable us to get on and do what needs to be done.
“We have worked closely with Defra, Fera, the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales, the forestry and horticultural sectors and non-government organisations to develop this Action Plan to ensure we’re taking an integrated approach to tackling tree pests and diseases across the country. We look forward to continuing and developing this collaboration as we enter the implementation phase.
“It’s important that we’re prepared for new threats, too, so we particularly welcome the £7 million extra funding for research into tree health over the next three years.”
Further information
- Tree Health: main Defra webpage on tree health, and the Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Action Plan;
- For further information, please contact Dr David Slawson at the Food & Environment Research Agency (Fera): david.slawson@fera.gsi.gov.uk
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