2454 final report.pdf - Agra CEAS Consulting

Evaluation of the Community Plant Health Regime: Final Report
DG SANCO Evaluation Framework Contract Lot 3 (Food Chain)
Phytopathology and taxonomy are not popular science. Students are not interested by these
types of discipline as very few modern technologies (e.g. biotechnologies, molecular tools,
etc.) are being used in the plant health sector;
Reductions of R&D budgets in the public area are leading to the need for laboratories to
contract out part of the research to the private sector which tends to limit availability of
results as these may be kept confidential (privatisation of research).
This reduction in classical biological scientific expertise and competences on plant pathology
and HOs is a global trend and not a specific EU problem, as confirmed by several interviewees.
The recognised decline in the phytosanitary area is exacerbated by several challenges as follows:
Global trade in plants and plant products is increasing the risk of introducing new and
exotic pests to Europe as the volume and diversity of trade grows and new trade pathways
emerge;
The number of quarantine plant pests, plant diseases and invasive plant species arriving
and establishing in the EU is predicted to increase over the next 10 years as global trade in
plants and plant products continues to expand176;
Climate change and global warming will lead to the emergence of new HOs entering the
EU via globalised trade from countries with a warmer climate and finding increasingly
suitable conditions for establishment inside the EU, or moving northward from southern
Europe while changing from insignificant local problems to significant threats for the
entire EU.
To some extent an improvement in the balance of available scientific expertise for plant health is
targeted via the coordination of research funding efforts via the EUPHRESCO network
(discussed in the following point).
As was noted by DEFRA the identification of research needs and prioritisation are generally
based on a range of criteria for understanding the needs for policy, improving the outputs of the
various tools and monitoring and evaluating outcomes:
176 Waage, JK, Frase RW, Mumford JD, Cook DC & Wilby A (2005) A new agenda for biosecurity. Defra Horizon
Scanning Project.
Food Chain Evaluation Consortium 157