regional and local levels, should be clearly
defined to avoid a duplication of efforts,
and to ensure appropriate management
strategies are devolved to regional and local
government.
Structures are in place at the national level
to deal with pests like these. Most pest
invasions affect agricultural or forestry
crops, and the Department of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Forestry then engages with
relevant stakeholders with strategic guidelines
for control. For its part, the Department
of Environmental Affairs is responsible for
protecting the country’s natural forests and
ecosystems. But it’s focus is usually on things
like climate change, pollution and alien
invasive weeds or animals.
At the local level municipalities has never
had to deal with a problem like this, are not
equipped to deal with it, and need clear
and practical guidance from the national
departments.
A consolidated strategy and pragmatic
action plan are urgently needed. Pest risk
assessments and countrywide surveys need
to be done for the different sectors. We can
learn a lot from ongoing research efforts
in California, but local research is needed
to determine the impact of the pest on
different tree hosts, especially native trees,
and to evaluate possible control measures in
different South African climatic regions.
Research results need to be translated in
management strategies that can be rolled
out to stakeholders like farmers, commercial
foresters, nurseries, arborists, municipalities,
and quarantine authorities. This implies that
people need to be trained to recognise the
problem in order to appropriately deal with it.
Special policy might need to be formulated
by the different levels of government, but
legislation is only as good as its enforcement.
For any of the above to succeed, efficient
communication channels and a public
awareness campaign is needed. This needs
leadership, dedicated and competent human
resources, and funds.
One thing is sure, the little shot hole borer
is here to stay. Protecting the country’s
trees is everybody’s responsibility, but our
government needs to lead the way.
Acknowledgement:
Wilhelm de Beer, Associate Professor,
University of Pretoria and Trudy Paap ,
Postdoctoral Fellow Forestry and Agricultural
Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria:
The spread of shot hole borer beetles in
South Africa is proving tough to control
, https://
published in
theconversation.com/the-spread-of-shothole-
borer-beetles-in-south-africa-is-proving-
tough-to-control-102996 November 2, 2018.
Republished under Creative Commons licence.
A London plane tree in Johannesburg, infested by the Shot hole Borer. S upplied by author.
AgriKultuur |AgriCulture
45