Help prevent spread of 'foreign plant diseases' by reporting them via new tool

The Instituut voor Landbouw-, Visserij- en Voedingsonderzoek (ILVO), the Experimental Center for Ornamental Horticulture (PCS) and Natuurpunt Studie hope in this way to also engage citizens in the protection of our public and private green spaces against alien diseases and pests. Those so-called Q organisms (with the Q of quarantine) are increasingly crossing the borders of the European Union over, and harm our environment and food production.

Your help is needed!

A plant disease or pathogen is branded as a quarantine organism (or Q organism) when it is considered harmful to plant health by EU legislation, and thus has the potential to cause major economic and ecological damage. Consequently, the policy is doing its best to prevent the introduction and further spread of such organisms. One of the actions under this prevention, is the notification of (suspected) introductions. 

ILVO, PCS and Natuurpunt are now asking for help from nature volunteers, as well as gardeners, students, scientists and professionals in agriculture, horticulture and forestry to speed up this process. 'They can use the Beware&Note alert system to look up what they think they have seen. That could be insects that are themselves easily identifiable or fungi, bacteria or viruses that cause recognizable symptoms. After identification, they can also report their find,' explains Wouter Vanreusel of Natuurpunt. 'That way, the competent authorities and managers of forest, nature, agricultural and horticultural areas and plots can take action more quickly.'

That reports by private individuals about suspicious organisms are invaluable has been proven in the past: 'In 2006, for example, a bonsai enthusiast reported a peculiar beetle he had found on a bonsai tree in Geraardsbergen. The photo he sent along quickly showed that it was an East Asian longhorn beetle, an alien beetle that can cause great damage to all kinds of deciduous trees,' says Jochem Bonte of ILVO. 'It had been imported from Asia together with the tree. Both beetle and tree were quarantined, and fortunately no other eggs or larvae were found. In the Netherlands in 2007 and 2009, a total of about 270,000 plants had to be destroyed after an outbreak of a similar Asian longhorn beetle species in residential areas. So the quick reflex of that man from Geraardsbergen prevented a lot of suffering.'

How does the new app work?

Suppose you find conifers on a hike with desiccation symptoms and mushrooms on the trunk. You log on to Beware&Note and filter the database for pests on conifers.

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