Plant Health, Climate Change and Trade - TradeMark Southern Africa

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South Africa has strict import requirements for horticulture products destined from East
Africa. Horticulture Exporters from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda have failed to
access the SA lucrative market because of the fruit fly problem. This highlights the necessity
to establish the extent and status of invasive flies , the implementation of surveys and
monitoring together with the private sector, for the establishment of Pest Free Areas (PFAs)
and Areas of Low Pest Prevalence (ALPPs) and research into the biology, ecology and
appropriate post harvest treatments to mitigate the effects of this pest in the Tripartite
Region.
Technical support for fruit fly projects in the African region is mainly provided though the
International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) which is administered by the FAO, the
World Bank and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA); Agriculture and Plant
Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS). The Centre of
Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Kenya is providing fruit fly taxonomy training and
involved with several research projects on fruit fly control and management. The Citrus
Research International (CRI) funded a project by ICIPE on cold sterilisation for B. invadens
on citrus and other projects for treatments on avocado and mango are underway.
Migratory pests patterns are expected to change as a results of the impact of climate
change. For example, more winter rain in recession areas such as North Africa and the
Sahel may provide better breeding conditions that may trigger more locust outbreaks.
Swarming locusts may move downwind so that convergent winds may take them to areas
with higher rainfall. In some cases, such as the northward movement across the Sahara in
autumn, prevailing north-easterly winds would blow insects back in the "wrong" direction but
locusts have adapted not to take off under such conditions, possible because the northeasterly
winds are too cold. In SADC the Information Core for Southern Africa Migratory
Pests ICOSAMP was established as a central point of migrant pest information for all SADC
countries, a ‘peer-to-peer’ network of information officers and control operators and a
standardized regional reporting system with the aim to enhance technical co-operation &
sharing of research information in the region.
5. The impact of climate change on phytosanitary risk management
At farm level, climate change may result in extended growing seasons that will subsequently
affect the implementation and duration of crop protection practices. In many developing
countries extension services are unable to provide adequate crop protection services to
farmers and climate change is likely to exacerbate the problem by increasing the need for
crop protection. Biological control practices will be affected as bio-control agents are
generally sensitive to environmental variation or extremes. Chemical management practices
will also be affected during higher winter temperatures when more generations or higher
pest populations occur and the frequency of pesticide use is increased or during periods of
higher rainfall when contact fungicides are washed out. Subsequently, agricultural input
costs will increase and more negative impacts on the environment is expected.
In 2008, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) adopted a
new System-wide Program on Integrated Pest Management (SP-IPM) with the aim of
improving the adaptation of IPM to climate change. The programme includes research and
outreach programs on crop pest and disease management by pulling together the individual
COP 17 -­‐ Trademark Climate change impact on phytosanitary risks