Tree health issues

摘要

There is little doubt that climate change and increased globalisation are having an impact on the range of pests and disease with which we are now having to deal. It is a matter of fact the FC plant health inspectors, who are responsible for inspecting all consignments of controlled wood and wood products, as they arrive from outside the EU, are reporting a high level of compliance and it is pleasing to note that it is now rarely necessary for us to have to intervene because pests have been found. Similarly, the relatively smooth global implementation of ISPM 15 (the International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures) on guidelines for regulating wood packaging material in international trade, has seen a dramatic decline in problems associated with what was generally regarded as the most significant pathway for spreading pests. Prior to ISPM 15, pine wood nematode in the USA and Portugal; Asian longhorn beetle in the USA, Germany and France; and emerald ash borer in the USA have all been associatedwith imported infested wood-packaging material.