The report presents conclusions of a scientific colloquium on emerging risks to plant health, including changes in: pest-plant interactions; agriculture and forestry practices; trade food consumption and land use; and climate change.
November 2011: The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has released a report of a scientific colloquium on emerging risks in plant health, covering drivers such as changes in plant-pest interactions and global change.
According to the report, the colloquium – held from 9-10 June 2011, in Parma, Italy – addressed four types of emerging risks: changes in pests, plants and their interactions; changes in agriculture and forestry practices; changes in trade, food consumption and land use; and climate change. The discussion centered on four questions: recognizing changes; anticipating and predicting changes; implications for risk management; and lessons learned and case studies.
Among other conclusions, the colloquium stressed: updating and correcting relevant data sets; increasing the involvement of producers, industries, amateur naturalists and the general public in data collection; cooperation and/or integration of various initiatives in identification of emerging risks at all levels; access to data on high-risk pathways; and enhancing methods for contingency plans. [Publication: Scientific Colloquium on Emerging Risks in Plant Health: From Plant Pest Interactions to Global Change]