Invasive Species and Africa Dr Segenet Kelemu Director General, Icipe
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Volume 7, Issue No. 2, 2017 From the Chair, icipe Invasive species 2 Governing Council and Africa 3 Dr Lukas Bertschinger, Dr Segenet Kelemu Chair, icipe Governing Council Director General, icipe INSTITUTIONAL NEWS NEW FUNDING icipe designated OIE Collaborating Pollinator Information Centre for Bee Health in Africa 5 Network for sub-Saharan IDRC Board of Governors visit 6 two-winged insects 8 icipe Technology Transfer Unit Push-Pull for 5 launched 6 8 sub-Saharan Africa 8 THRiVE annual general meeting 7 MUSA – sustainable World Malaria Day 7 control of key banana pests and diseases 8 icipe – KALRO MoA 7 sh-Pu RECENTLY PUBLISHED Pu ll RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Jewel wasps 9 Enhancing tsetse management 10 Push-Pull 100th Fall Armyworm 10 9 publication 9 10 Aferia capacity building 11 Bee pest risk mapping 9 Rothamsted International Fellowship 11 Root-knot nematodes p u n Women empowerment research awarded 11 blicatio icipe IN ETHIOPIA CAPACITY BUILDING National Sericulture AND INSTITUTIONAL Development Strategy 12 DEVELOPMENT 12 White mango scale 13 Recent graduates and workshop 12 thesis defences 13 icipe IN PICTURES icipe Director General meets UN Secretary General 15 STAFF NEWS AAS-AESA visit 15 Appointments 16 15 Visit by Prof. Andrew Campbell, 16 Chief Executive Officer, ACIAR 15 icipe BY NUMBERS 35 600 3,566 620 Peer reviewed journal Farmers currently using Current beneficiaries of Media mentions articles (April – June 2017) tsetse repellent collars the Young technology Entrepreneurs in Silk and Honey Project [email protected] www.icipe.org @icipe facebook.com/icipe.insects FROM THE CHAIR, icipe GOVERNING COUNCIL Dr Lukas Bertschinger, Chair, icipe Governing Council Dear Colleagues and Friends of icipe, towards management of the destructive invasive Fall Armyworm. The topic of invasive species and We are extremely pleased to bring you an update strategies for reducing Africa’s vulnerability, is of of icipe’s activities over the past four months (April great concern to icipe, and is indeed the focus – July 2017). of the Director General’s Thought Leadership column. During this period we were most honoured to welcome a number of visitors representing the In this bulletin, we celebrate colleagues from Centre’s donors and collaborators. Such visits the Push-Pull programme, who, in partnership are important to us, as they re-emphasise our with Rothamsted Research, UK, have recently partnerships and also provide a chance to published their 100th peer reviewed journal article. discuss new and innovative, Other publications highlighted science-led strategies to icipe embraces alert to in this report include results improve livelihoods across that provide promising Africa. Among those who its unique position as a leads for the development visited are: the Board of the world class leader in insect of ecofriendly strategies to Governors of the International control root-knot nematodes; science. We are pleased Research Development Centre and the description of new (IDRC); and colleagues from that our partners and wasps, a part of icipe’s the Alliance for Accelerating collaborators continue to ongoing contribution of Excellence in Science in Africa much needed knowledge to (AESA) and African Academy recognise, and to support the global taxonomy hub on of Sciences (AAS). our mission. smaller organisms. We also received Dr Jean icipe’s research portfolio Philippe-Dop, Deputy Director General, OIE – continues to expand, some of the latest additions World Organisation for Animal Health. This visit being a study on endophytes and biocontrol came in the wake of the confirmation of icipe’s agents against key pests and diseases of banana, designation as an OIE Collaborating Centre for and on dipteran pollinators from the Afrotropics. Bee Health in Africa. This is delightful news that re-affirms our role as a hub of bee health expertise I would like to strongly acknowledge support from in Africa and globally. Biovision Foundation for Ecological Development, Switzerland, our longstanding partner, which has Our unique position as a world class leader in enabled us to establish a Technology Transfer insect science is an aspect that we continue Unit. As a result, we are now able to assign the to embrace, as is visibly emphasized by our role of technology dissemination to a dedicated, participation in key global and regional initiatives. appropriately skilled team, thus increasing our Notably, in April, we joined the international ability to reach even more end users. community in commemorating the World Malaria Day, asserting our commitment to the control of We thank all our donors, partners and staff, this deadly disease. We have also strengthened our and anticipate that you will enjoy reading this involvement in the development of the sericulture publication. industries in Kenya and Ethiopia. Significantly, together with partners and Dr Lukas Bertschinger, stakeholders, we have initiated a range of activities Chair, icipe Governing Council [email protected] 2 www.icipe.org THOUGHT LEADERSHIP COLUMN BY THE DIRECTOR GENERAL Invasive species and Africa Dr Segenet Kelemu Director General, icipe ack in the 1950s, Charles Elton, a serious postharvest pest capable of icipe research on invasive species an English ecologist and zoologist, reducing stored grains to pulp, which was Bintroduced the term “invasion” to The Fall Armyworm, a hazard that icipe introduced from Central America into Africa describe destructive ecological explosions is currently addressing, piles on to a in the late 1970s. of exotic plants and animals. range of invasive species related threats. Some that have been the subject of icipe Africa’s backup staples, like potato, have Today, Elton’s military derived metaphor, research in the recent past include the not been spared from the invasion peril. which first appeared in his seminal book maize lethal necrosis disease (MLDN), Two years ago, the potato cyst nematode The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and caused by the maize chlorotic mottle virus (PCN), microscopic, soil dwelling Plants, has led to the adoption of the and sugarcane mosaic virus. The Centre roundworm that are highly destructive term “invasive species” as the universal has also conducted studies on the larger to potatoes worldwide was reported in definition of arthropod pests, diseases grain borer, Prostephanus truncatus, eastern Africa. icipe and partners, through and weeds introduced accidentally or the support of the Food and Agriculture deliberately outside their natural habitats or Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Globally, invasive species are countries of origin. The analogy of invasion have established that the pest has invaded also served as an early warning for a broad now considered the second several potato growing areas in Kenya. range of invasive species catastrophes with most important threat to which we have become all too painfully The continent’s horticultural sector also familiar. nature, due to their severe continues to face untold challenges as and cross cutting impact a result of invasive pests. New entrants Despite several international mechanisms within the last five years alone include (for example, the Convention on Biological on ecosystems, human and the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, Diversity (CBD)), established to tackle animal health, infrastructure, a native of Asia, which is now present in invasive pests, their threat continues at an more than 30 African countries. Aside from economic and cultural alarming rate, bolstered by globalisation, ruining fruit and vegetable yield, at times increasing movement of people and resources. Sub-Saharan Africa up to 100%, B. dorsalis, like other fruit fly goods, land use changes, climate change, is one of the regions most species, is also a quarantine pest, and its and physical and chemical disturbance to presence in Africa restricts the export of species distribution. susceptible to this menace. produce from the continent to European Indeed, globally, invasive species are now considered the second most important threat to nature, due to their severe and cross cutting impact on ecosystems, human and animal health, infrastructure, economic and cultural resources. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), one of the most susceptible regions, the list of invasive species is long and diverse; their destruction often horrendous. As an example, since January 2016 the Fall Armyworm, a caterpillar that is endemic to the Americas, has been devastating maize and other crops in at least 20 African countries, placing at risk the food security, and indeed the very livelihoods, of around 300 million people. The Fall Armyworm is causing devastating damage to maize and other crops in Africa. [email protected] 3 www.icipe.org THOUGHT LEADERSHIP COLUMN BY THE DIRECTOR GENERAL markets and emerging markets in North and colonises important ecosystems like timely detection of invasive species as a America. Other invasive fruit fly species rangelands. A native of North and South solid basis to respond to invasive species, on the continent include B. zonata, B. America, Parthenium is considered one of reducing prophylactic treatments in case of cucurbitae and B. latifrons. Further, icipe the world’s most serious invasive plants. already established species and ensuring and partners have recently detected the In East Africa, Parthenium is extensively economic and environmental benefits. Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri, a spread over cultivated and pastoral lands. sap-sucking insect that can transmit the A significant