Recently Professor Ian Falk from the Cooperative Research Centre for National plant Biosecurity (CRCNPB) and Dr Marthen Ndoen were invited to give keynote papers to an international conference titled Biosecurity: Policy, Problems and Solutions. They presented information as part of the Australian Indonesian Biosecurity Community Management (AusIndo Biocom [1]) project team. The conference was held in Manado, the capital city of the Province of Northern Sulawesi, in the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. The aim of the event was to produce information to feed into a larger international symposium to be held in Manado from 12-16 May 2010. The conference will build on the enormous success of the World Ocean Conference held in Manado in May 2009.

The Biosecurity: Policy, Problems and Solutions conference was hosted by Dr Jerry Tambun and a group from the Manado Chamber of Commerce who will also host the international symposium to be held in May next year. The Manado Chamber of Commerce have been active in seeing the potential for securing the biodiversity of the region, with Manado itself rating high in the world's most sought after natural assets.

Professor Ian Falk opened the conference with a keynote titled Biosecurity: Marking out the Territory. In this talk, Professor Falk drew on information from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, he then compared this information with the reality of the research outcomes emerging from the six year program of research conducted by the AusIndo team. Members of the AusIndo team include Ruth Wallace (Charles Darwin University and CRCNPB), Dr Marthen Ndoen (Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana), Professor Dr Kaler Surata (Universitas Mahasaraswati and CRCNPB), Wayan Mudita (Undana and CRCNPB), Theo Litaay (Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana), Eka Martiningsih (Universitas Mahasaraswati), Helty Mampouw, (Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Salatiga-Central Java) Sri Jayantini (Universitas Mahasaraswati) and Remi Natonis (University of Nusa Cendana).
 

Other distinguished speakers, included Dr Johnny Tasirin from Sam Ratulagi University and President of Wildlife Conservation Society Sulawesi Program, Noldy Tuerah, Chief Executive Officer of Kawasan Pengembangan Ekonomi Terpadu Integrated Economic Development Zone, and of course Dr Marthen Ndoen of AusIndoBiocom.

It was noted that a range of pests and diseases were identified in both Australia and Indonesia. This identification could be done through more effective management of the complex system of borders converging on Manado, considered to be Indonesia's hub for East Asia. A 'zone of interaction' was muted as a useful way of re-shaping the manner in which Northern Sulawesi approaches its biosecurity plans for the future.

The 70 or so, invited participants came to a consensus around the need for an integrated approach to managing biosecurity.
 

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