 Pacific Islanders joined plant health experts from the international community in grappling with the issue of adopting biological control as a tool in fighting invasive pests in agriculture, forestry and environmentally important systems.
Biocontrol uses highly evolved and host-specific natural enemies to lower the population of pests affecting agriculture and the natural ecosystem. Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs) can share more information between agriculture, forestry and biodiversity conservation groups to better address biocontrol work, as well as looking at strategies implemented in other regions in the use of biocontrol agents to fight invasive plants and pests.
These were some of the issues discussed during the second day of the Pacific Biocontrol Workshop currently underway in Auckland, New Zealand. Over 40 delegates are attending the workshop, including 10 from PICTs. The workshop aims to develop a regional strategy for implementing biological control work in the Pacific.
Value adding is usually associated with trade and the process of
downstream processing to improve the value of agricultural produce.
However, it is just as applicable to weed biocontrol, where it refers
to moving biocontrol agents from one place to another. For instance,
biocontrol agents released for weed control in Papua New Guinea or
Australia can be moved to other parts of the Pacific to control the
same weed.
‘Moving safe biocontrol agents from one PICT to another, or between
islands within a country, is a simple, cheap and fast way of developing
biological control. It allows current projects to be extended to other
countries, and especially for weeds there is a high potential for
biocontrol,’ said Mic Julean of Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific
and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in his presentation to the
biocontrol workshop.
Water hyacinth (Eichhorniae crassipes ) provides a classic example. A
tiny beetle, Neochetina eichhorniae, released in Papua New Guinea (PNG)
in the mid-1990s, was effective in controlling this serious weed in
waterways and has been introduced in Vanuatu, where it has helped
reduce problems caused by the weed in rural areas. Previously clogged
fresh waterways, including streams and lakes, are now cleared of water
hyacinth, and this has helped native fauna and flora return to their
original levels. Communities benefit because they can once again use
their canoes in these waterways to travel and fish.
‘We can also use known biocontrol agents from other countries
outside the region and introduce them to PICTs to control the same
problematic species. There are known biocontrol agents for giant
sensitive weed, Mimosa pigra, in Australia, and they can be introduced
into PNG, or useful diseases for the pasture weed noogoorra burr to
control the same weed in Fiji,’ said the CSIRO scientist.
Current research in other countries can benefit the Pacific as well.
The banana passionfruit is an invasive weed in New Zealand and some
PICTs. Current research in identifying a biocontrol agent for New
Zealand for this weed can benefit PICTs as well.
PICTS face particular challenges in biocontrol work. Frequent tropical
cyclones and typhoons and the impact of climate change often impact
negatively on biocontrol agents. Limited expertise, financial resources
and quarantine facilities for biocontrol work are other major
challenges. Inadequate resourcing has often been identified as one of
the reason for failures in biocontrol work. However, biological control
is often the only logical response to invasive insect or weed pests for
the Pacific. Rural Pacific communities have traditional knowledge of
natural enemies of weed and insect pests and can contribute to
strategies on managing invasive species.
The Pacific Biocontrol Strategy Development Workshop is a collaborative
effort between SPC’s Land Resources Division, LandCare New Zealand, the
United States Forest Service in Hawai’i and the Pacific Invasives
Learning Network based at SPREP. Scientists and plant protection
experts and information managers on Pacific invasive species are
attending the workshop to identify and address issues related to
biological control of weeds and insect pests affecting agriculture,
forestry and biodiversity.
For more information, please contact SPC Plant Health Coordinator Warea Orapa at
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