Division of Food Production and Society
Risk management of imported plants and seeds: possibilities for improved pest detection to prevent the introduction and spread of new pests
End: dec 2025
Start: jun 2020
Plant pathogens and invertebrates harmful to plants continue to threatenfood security and natural habitats. In Norway, the responsibility of performingplant health inspections on imported plants has gradually shifted to importersof plants who are currently responsible for internal pest control and mustbe registered with the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.
Project participants
Kathrine Torday Gulden Martin Pettersson Venche Talgø Erling Fløistad Hanne Skomedal Bianca Cavicchi Anna Birgitte Milford Valborg Kvakkestad| Status | Active |
| Start - end date | 01.06.2020 - 31.12.2025 |
| Project manager | Frode Veggeland |
| Division | Division of Food Production and Society |
| Department | Economics and Society |
| Total budget | 8000000 |
This plant healthsystem poses several challenges to import risk analysis due to the greatvariety of importers (e.g. professional business, individuals like farmersand garden owners) and thus of capacities to comply with rules. Therefore,research is needed on how the current regulatory framework affects theeffectiveness of import risk analysis. STOPPest asks What are the conditionsfor effective management of plant health with regard to plant imports
Its main objective is to produce knowledge on the conditions for effectivemanagement of plant health regarding plant imports. We will analyze threecase studies: strawberry plants, ornamentals, and seeds. We will map andassess the regulatory framework, review existing research on biological risksand analyze the importers´ behavior and practices to identify the weaknessin the current system.
We will implement an interdisciplinary researchdesign and do a triangulation of methods, i.e. document analysis, interviews,focus groups, survey and biological testing (WP2) to compare the resultsof inspections performed by importers and professional inspectors (NIBIOscientists). In WP3, we will do an interdisciplinary and participatory synthesisof the knowledge and results of WP2 by using causal loop diagramming toexamine how the regulatory framework for imported plants and seeds can beimproved, and what are the necessary conditions for enabling plant importersto ensure a satisfactory phytosanitary status.
Publications in the project
Abstract
ABSTRACT Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) ranks among the top three health threats facing the EU. The AMR crisis is characterized as a “creeping crisis” and refers to the development where the increase in AMR causes antibiotics to lose their efficiency and effect—potentially causing millions of deaths. This article explores the EU's efforts to manage the AMR crisis by linking and coordinating different policy sectors. It assumes that institutional factors at the meso‐level, that is, at the level where political strategies are transformed into action, are key to ensure coordination across policy‐sectors and thus successful implementation of inter‐sectorial AMR policies. Drawing on literature on historical institutionalism, we analyze the development of institutional conditions for coordinating the three key sectors of AMR‐governance in the EU: the human health, veterinary, and environmental sectors. The starting point is the observation that the latter sector is considerably less integrated into AMR governance than the other two sectors. The article describes and explains how institutional developments at the meso‐level of AMR governance in the EU (European Commission Directorate‐Generals (DGs), EU agencies) contribute to an inter‐sectoral coordination deficit, or a “blind spot,” in the combat against AMR.