Global Plant Protection News

PLANT PROTECTION EVOLVES IN NEW ZEALAND

Plant protection in New Zealand is adapting to the realities of COVID and evolving to address the challenges of supporting production of healthy food while meeting the threats of biodiversity loss and climate change.  The flagship journal “New Zealand Plant Protection” has been converted to an open-access e-publication with past volumes digitized and available online and Bioprotection Aotearoa, a new Centre of Research Excellence guided by a Māori (indigenous) values framework has been launched.

Biosecurity risks from visitors and imported goods, plus the effects of climate change and pesticide resistance are just some of the issues currently affecting the protection of plants in New Zealand.

Its new tagline “Protecting Plants with Science” encapsulates the New Zealand Plant Protection Society’s aim to reduce the impacts that plant pests, pathogens, weeds and border biosecurity have on New Zealand’s economy and environment. The Society connects like-minded people and organizations by sharing the latest research findings on these issues via social media, through its website https://nzpps.org/, and at various events. Its 73rd annual conference, held in Napier in August 2021, was a great success with over 80 talks and posters presented over three days.

The Society also publishes relevant books and New Zealand Plant Protection, the premium peer-reviewed science journal for plant protection research in New Zealand. The digital age has had a transformational effect on communication globally and the Society has responded by converting its Journal to an open-access e-publication https://journal.nzpps.org. All past volumes have also been digitised and are freely available online.

The Society will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2022 yet its aims remain as valid as ever (Reported by Dr Mike Cripps, NZPPS President).

Plant protection has been served for nearly 20 years by the Bio-Protection Research Centre (https://bioprotection.org.nz/), based at Lincoln University, New Zealand, which has focused on research to find sustainable solutions to New Zealand’s pest and weed problems.  This year, a new Centre of Research Excellence has been launched, Bioprotection Aotearoa, which will integrate plant protection with Mātauraka Māori (indigenous knowledge) and the social sciences. Bioprotection Aotearoa builds on the work of the previous Bio-Protection Research Center, and will adopt an inclusive and holistic approach to scientific research guided by a Māori values framework.  The new center is a partnership of 11 NZ Universities and research institutes which will train the next generation of bioprotection researchers and deliver world-class research that protects the productive and natural landscapes of Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific. The main aims of the research are to provide the science to make landscapes more resilient to withstanding pest invasions.

Dr. Trevor Jackson

IAPPS Coordinator Region XII, Oceania

E-mail: trevor.jackson@agresearch.co.nz