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Preserving Biodiversity, Promoting Biosecurity and Biosafety: Australian Perspectives

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Preserving Biodiversity, Promoting Biosecurity and Biosafety: Australian Perspectives Preserving Biodiversity, Promoting Biosecurity and Biosafety: Australian Perspectives Lois Ransom Paper prepared for presentation at the “Biodiversity And World Food Security: Nourishing The Planet And Its People” conference conducted by the Crawford Fund for International Agricultural Research, Parliament House, Canberra, Australia, 30 August – 1 September, 2010 Copyright 2010 by Lois Ransom. All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. P RESERVING B IODIVERSITY, P ROMOTING B IOSECURITY AND B IOSAFETY Preserving Biodiversity, Promoting Biosecurity and Biosafety: Australian Perspectives LOIS RANSOM Email: [email protected] Biosecurity is the management of risks to the biosecurity actions, particularly in the natural or economy, the environment and the community of built environment where dollar values are not as pests and diseases entering, emerging, establish- clear as they are in commercial production sys- ing or spreading. In Australia, biosecurity services tems, is difficult and generally a product of are delivered by government and industry in societal values and individual impacts. partnership with farmers and the wider community as a shared responsibility. This is described in a Introduction biosecurity continuum to convey that biosecurity outcomes cannot be delivered if any element of It is a challenge to address the topic of this talk in the continuum is missing or ineffective. Biodiver- the allotted time because each of the ‘bio’ ele- sity is both an outcome of and a contributor to ments is worthy of far more intensive discussion biosecurity actions, for example as a source of in their own right. I will start on definitions be- biological control agents and genetic diversity for cause these give a sense of how things fit together, host resistance breeding. Biotechnology is a tool and use examples from my experience in the that can help deliver biosecurity outcomes, al- though it may also generate biosecurity concerns biosecurity system in Australia that may be of unless appropriately managed. Our environment some value in considering the issues that have and the activities it supports can be viewed as a been raised by previous speakers. large and complex ecosystem. Meshing the The ongoing evolution of Australia’s biosecurity biosecurity continuum approach with an ecosys- tem concept can help government, industry and system has focused to date on the reform of a communities to identify priority actions to deliver national framework to achieve clarity of purpose trade, food safety and security and biodiversity and to define roles and responsibilities, as well as outcomes through risk-based analysis and deliv- to set priorities for ongoing development of biose- ery of biosecurity actions. Valuing the outcomes of curity capacity and capability that will enable the delivery of the biosecurity outcomes expected by LOIS RANSOM is the Chief Plant Protection the Australian community. National planning and Officer (CPPO) in the Australian Government action to protect Australia’s biodiversity may Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and For- learn from the recent actions to ensure our biose- estry. She is a plant pathologist by training and curity system is dynamic, responsive and flexible. practice and has worked in most areas of plant health spanning pesticide efficacy testing; The foundation for achieving better biosecurity research, development and extension for better outcomes is the national framework that actively disease management in Tasmania’s vegetable enables and supports effective local delivery of and medicinal crops; and quarantine and export biosecurity. This can also set local action in the policy and operations with the Australian Gov- context of national priorities and outcomes where ernment. She was Australia’s Agriculture numerous small actions contribute to larger out- Counsellor in Tokyo from 2000 to 2003. As the comes. It is inevitable that the biosecurity system, CPPO she is a focal point for national and and those working within it, is judged on actual international plant health with a significant outcomes. No matter what else we do, if biosecu- leadership role in the ongoing development of Australia’s plant biosecurity system. rity outcomes for this country are poor and our B IODIVERSITY AND W ORLD F OOD S ECURITY 22 place within the global community is poor, we The biosecurity system will be judged poorly. In Australia, the biosecurity system is complex Definitions and operates at many different levels. Operations at the international border are obvious to import- The relationships between biodiversity, biosecu- ers of goods and to travellers returning through air rity and biosafety are as complex as the and sea ports. Its operations off-shore to address ecosystems they create or protect. At its most pest risks on goods before they are exported and basic, biodiversity is safeguarded by Australia’s on-shore to limit their spread within Australia are biosecurity system, which can be assisted by the not always as obvious. Off-shore activities include safe application of biotechnology. site visits to confirm biosecurity risks, the collec- The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD tion and analysis of international intelligence to 1992) defines ‘biological diversity’ as the vari- identify new and emerging threats and measures ability among living organisms from all sources to address them, and capacity-building, particu- including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other larly in the Asia and Pacific regions, to improve aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes pest management and reduce the risks that pests of which they are part; this includes diversity will move into Australia with goods, people or by within species, between species and of ecosys- natural spread. tems. Biodiversity is both an outcome of and a States and territories operate a quarantine system contributor to biosecurity actions, for example as to prevent the movement of established pests to a source of biological control agents and of ge- new areas within the country. This is supported by netic diversity for host resistance breeding. animal and plant health legislation in each juris- Biosecurity is the management of risks to the diction. Quarantine measures are applied to economy, the environment and the community of protect defined areas or habitats and ecosystems pests and diseases entering, emerging, establish- to support market access by maintaining these ing or spreading. Hence the biological diversity of areas free of quarantine pests, or to safeguard an area, whether a small ecosystem or the whole them from diseases that severely affect their of Australia, is protected from the impacts of pests economic or ecological value. Biosecurity is also that are absent from that area by effective applica- practised at a property level, to protect farms from tion of biosecurity services. diseases that may be carried by new livestock or stock feed. Biosafety is a modern concept arising from the 2000 Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which This ‘continuum’ approach to biosecurity ac- encompasses the protection of human health and knowledges the connectivity of off-shore, border biodiversity by controlling the importation, re- and on-shore actions and the roles and shared lease and use of genetically modified crops. Of responsibilities of governments, industry and the itself, genetic modification is a tool that can help Australian community in protecting our farms, provide protection of plants from pests. However, forests, cities and bushland from damaging pests modifications and their application in production and diseases (Fig. 1). It is reflected in the national ecosystems may have unintended consequences biosecurity framework. The concept was first that must also be managed to mitigate damage to acknowledged in the 1996 Nairn review of quar- these and adjacent ecosystems. Biotechnology has antine and more recently in the 2008 Beale review been applied in Australia for integrated pest of quarantine and biosecurity. These concepts management and to reduce the use of pesticides. reflect the value that we, as a nation, place on the There have been observed increases in the biodi- ability we have to provide safe, wholesome food versity of insect fauna in genetically modified to our population, generate wealth from animal cotton crops. and plant exports and safeguard Australia’s unique and diverse fauna and flora. Risk analysis is applied to the regulation of modi- fied organisms to safeguard the environment and Biosecurity agencies are working hard to create a economy from adverse effects of their introduc- holistic focus that integrates all biosecurity activi- tion in much the same way as biosecurity threats ties within a national framework—ensuring that are assessed and managed through biosecurity roles and responsibilities are clear, and that ade- import risk analysis processes. quate resources and infrastructure are available to identify priority biosecurity risks effectively. The B IODIVERSITY AND W ORLD F OOD S ECURITY 23 as tourists or residents returning home. The biosecurity system is in place to reduce the risk of entry of pest threats. Not all threats are exotic. The Queensland fruit fly (Bactrocera tryoni) is a good example of a native species that has ex- tended its natural range over time and which has become a significant cost to producers and exporters as they must meet interstate
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