In limbo?

VANMEURSA — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 05:33:22 +0000

After the frenzied activity leading up to the submission of the bid to establish a Plant Biosecurity CRC, the CRCNPB premises appeared almost tranquil. This was, of course misleading. Like the swan apparently sailing peacefully along the surface of the lake, vigorous paddling continued under water. On 19 August, Nick Langley our Business Manager, was able to circulate a DIISR ‘Guide for Applicants Progressing to Stage 2’ which provided further guidance to prepare for interview, and to develop sample projects.. And at 4.45 pm on 26 August came the word we’d been hoping for - the bid will go interview. So, goodbye tranquillity!

In the April edition of The Leaflet I wrote about the links between biosecurity and biodiversity. Each year, the Crawford Fund organises an International Parliamentary Conference. The topic for 2010 was ‘Biodiversity and World Food Security: Nourishing the Planet and its People’. With events spread from 31 August to 2 September, the topic was chosen to coincide with the United Nation’s International Year of Biodiversity and was one of a small number of international events focusing on food security in the context of biodiversity conservation. Held at Parliament House, the conference featured speakers from Europe and the United States, in addition to Australian contributors. Despite the understandable preoccupation of parliamentarians and staffers with matters pertaining to the election, I am sure the quality of the presentations achieved the conference objective of better informing them about this crucial issue.

Earlier in August there was international outrage at a proposal that Pavlovsk Experiment Station in Russia be destroyed to permit housing development. Pavlovsk is part of the Vavilov Institute, one of the best known of the world’s gene banks. This is not the first time that the Vavilov – a source of valuable germplasm for Australian crops - has been under pressure. One of its claims to fame is that, during World War II, the scientists curating the collection faced starvation rather than consume the seeds in their care. More information on this extraordinary episode may be found on the website of the Global Crop Diversity Trust www.croptrust.org In response to international appeals it is understood that Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev has placed the development proposal under review.

The importance of conserving biodiversity to provide genetic resources to meet biosecurity, and other needs is acknowledged. The impetus for conservation has been heightened by concerns at the impact of climate change on pest and disease organisms. This was one aspect covered at the Fourth Meeting of the International Pest Risk Modelling Workshop held in Port Douglas from 23-25 August. The theme of the workshop ‘Pest risk in a changing world’ focused attention on pest risk modelling. Some 25 delegates represented Canada, China, Europe, New Zealand, Singapore and the USA, while the Australian contingent featured a number of CRCNPB speakers, including, Darren Kriticos, Paul De Barro, Dean Paini and PhD student Kylie Ireland. A stand-out among generally high calibre presentations was Paul De Barro’s paper, presented on behalf of his collaborators Mike Cole (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) and Sharyn Taylor (Plant Health Australia), ‘Blue triangles and pink boxes, the modellers’ and end-users’ dilemma’. Paul highlighted the excellent work been done in the area of modelling. However, he also discussed the need to communicate with end-users to ensure that the tools developed can be easily used and understood by the end-users.

This is the first time that the workshop has been held outside the United States, an indication of the level of international credibility which the CRCNPB has generated over its life, thus far.

CRC for Plant Biosecurity - Chariman

In limbo?