FOREST DEGRADATION IN SELANGOR MALAYSIA

Forest Degradation. Selangor which had experienced a loss of up to 10% of its forests in the 22 years between 1990 and 2012 continues to face forest degradation, a study by UKM scientists found.

The deforestation was found to be due to economic and development factors including increased farming and urbanisation arising from a growing population.

Director of UKM’s Institute of Climate Change (IKP), Professor Dr Sharifah Mastura Syed Abdullah said the continued degradation of the remaining forests is of a major concern.

Speaking to UKM News Portal after a seminar on Space Sciences here, Prof Sharifah Mastura said knowledge on deforestation and its driving forces in Selangor is very important as it provides the basis for the calculation of the total amount of carbon stock remaining above ground.

Carbon stock is the supply of carbon, especially carbon dioxide, kept in trees and other plants.

She said the study provided an insight into appropriate measures that could be taken to increase the area of trees to reduce the release of carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere.

Photographs taken by satellites and land use maps from the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrobased Industry showed the deforestation in Selangor had complex causes.

She said the reduction in forest cover in the state must be understood because for decades perceptions and controversies of deforestation had persisted in public debate.

Prof Sharifah Mastura said the degradation was due to economic, institutional and cultural practicesand policywith just over half related to population dynamics and the rest due to agriculture, economic factors, public policy and road networks.

She gave the following data:

Factors Causing Deforestation in Selangor	Percentage
Population Dynamics	54.4
Agriculture Intensification	18.2
Economic	13.6
Public Policies	9.1
Road Networks	4.5

 

Overall forest loss in the 22 years was 2% from dipterocarp forestsmade up of the largest trees and 8.6% from peat swamp forests.

While the stastistics may not appear to be alarming, detailed analysis using the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) showed the quality of the forest had degraded widely.

Most researchers agree that forest cover is an important and critical feature as it plays a major role in maintaining the regional hydro-climate-ecological balance as well as life sustainability and well being on earth.

In Malaysia forest and grassland conversion was fourth in the source of carbon dioxide emission in the country, contributing 14%. Continuous conversion of forest to other land use is responsible in the releasing of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

Global annual data on emission of carbon dioxide from deforestation amounted to 25% of the total carbon emission.

Prof Sharifah Mastura urged more case studies be done on the deforestation process – not only in Selangor, but all over the country. Only then can the regional level be considered.

She said case study results from Selangor contain valuable ground truth that helps to build up the bigger picture of the actual deforestation issue in Malaysia.

Any policy aimed at sustaining the forest in Selangor would be futile if underlying causes of deforestation are not properly known or poorly understood.

Many countries have policies favouring economic growth over forest protection. Consequently, these countries have to bear long term downstream and irreversible impacts of environmental degradation among which is an unsustainable forest resource.

Forest Degradation Ensuring carbon stock in the soil and vegetation above ground, provides the critical information required for policy makers to access the feasibility of projects based on land acquisition, Prof Sharifah Mastura said.

GLOBAL EMISSIONS : MICROSOFT CARBON FEE FUNDS CAMBODIAN COMMUNITY FORESTRY

Microsoft is directing some of the money from its “game-changing” internal CARBON FEE to fund international carbon offset projects. 

The Seattle, Washington-based technology firm implemented the carbon fee in July 2012 as part of its commitment to become carbon neutral, in recognition of the fact that the information and communications technology sector emits 2% of global emissions. 

“We are part of the problem, especially when we look at our customers and the proliferation of devices that are emerging and the energy they require, so we need to also be part of the solution,” said Tamara “T.J.” DiCaprio, senior director of carbon and energy, environmental sustainability for Microsoft. DiCaprio announced Microsoft’s new wave of offset purchases at the first ever REDD+ Talksevent hosted last week by the Code REDD Campaign, CSR Wire and REDD+ project developer Wildlife Works in Sausalito, California. 

Since the implementation of the carbon fee, the company has invested more than $4 million in renewable energy and carbon offset projects around the world. 

Microsoft’s “game-changing corporate policy,” as DiCaprio describes it, fits right in with projects to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), she said. One project Microsoft is investing in is the Oddar Meanchey forest protection project in Cambodia, in which Terra Global Capital works with local communities to halt deforestation and protect an area of 56,000 hectares of tropical forest. Forest cover in the Oddar Meanchey province is being lost at an average annual rate of 2.1%, the highest in the country. 

The company has also chosen to partner with Carbon Neutral Company to invest in carbon reduction projects that preserve forests and wildlife and generate jobs and fund education. 

“As a corporation in a developed country, we can invest in emerging countries, developing countries, to help them develop in a low-carbon economy, which is really the foundation for the Kyoto Protocol,” she said. 

There are three pillars to Microsoft’s strategy: be lean, be green, be accountable. Being lean involves reducing the company’s energy use, waste and air travel. 

“The first step was really to take a look at our own house, get our own house in order, clean up our own operations,” DiCaprio told attendees at the REDD+ Talks in Sausalito, California last week. “In order to do that, our reduction in carbon emissions had to go to zero and hopefully be net negative when we complete the process.” 

Becoming a greener company entails, among other activities, investments in renewable energy and carbon offsets projects. The accountability phase involves charging the company’s 14 business divisions an additional fee to account for their carbon emissions, she said. The carbon price, which was not disclosed, could increase over time. 

“The accountability has been amazing,” she said. “It was very important for me to start to talk about carbon in terms of dollars.” 

“The impact on the business has been significant,” DiCaprio continued. “The folks are engaged now.” 

DiCaprio hopes her company’s efforts can serve as a model for other organizations in putting a price on carbon, collecting the funds, driving accountability throughout the organization and using the funds to support projects, such as the Kasigau Corridor REDD project that aims to protect 500,000 acres of forest under threat in Kenya. 

“The world needs our help,” she said. “Microsoft can’t do it alone. We need to be able to distribute these funds out to the organizations and the groups that are making an impact.” 

http://www.forestcarbonportal.com

DUTERTE BLAMES WEST, CHINA FOR CLIMATE CHANGE, FLOODS IN DAVAO CITY

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – “Don’t blame poor Filipinos for what’s wrong with the weather,” Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said as he lashed at critics who blamed illegal logging for the worst flooding that inundated some areas in Davao in water for the whole week.

“Every time there’s something wrong with the weather, you start to crucify the Filipinos, when we don’t have a significant contribution to what ails the weather. We contribute the least to global warming, blame the Western world, blame the US and China,” Duterte said, reacting to the crawler on a cable news network (ANC), which quoted environment groups as saying the “denudation of Mt. Apo contributed much to the recent flooding in Davao City.

Duterte, in his Sunday television program, said the volcanic peak of Mt. Apo had no trees in the first place. Mt. Apo had nothing to do with the recent flooding, he said.

Duterte said 89 million cubic meters of rainfall, an equivalent to a one-year production of drinking water of the Davao City Water District in the city, poured in the city in two days, causing the floods.
“We never contributed significantly as to alter the temperature of the planet, it was the Western World,” Duterte said.

“The rivers and tributaries overflowed,” Duterte said, adding that the flood came from the Lipadas and Davao watershed.

He said even if it was illegal logging, it was not the Filipinos who denuded large forest areas in Mindanao, citing South Cotabato, which was a virgin forest before American companies started logging operations that cleared away entire forests.

“Who were the first loggers in Mindanao? Those were Americans,” Duterte said. “Where are our trees? Of course, there were Filipinos, but at that time, it was considered legitimate.”
Duterte asked critics to look at the bigger picture, instead of automatically castigating poor Filipinos for what’s ailing the environment.

“The bigger picture is it was not us who destroyed the environment, we have the least of the contribution to climate change,” he said. “What caused the severe wind, velocity 200 kilometers per hour? It’s the climate. What’s the effect? Everything. Everyone had his share (of disasters) including New York,” he said.

“Do not believe these foreigners coming from the US and Europe to lecture on us about issues,” Duterte said.

But he defended those who developed housing subdivisions even in areas considered now as flood-prone and a catch basin for water. He said that the developers have been granted permit by the Housing Land Use and Regulatory Board (HLURB) in the first place, hence, did not have any choice but to develop the properties.

“Jade Valley (subdivision) was built what used to be a riverbed, so when the river overflowed, expect the water to get inside your house,” Duterte said.

Residents in flood-prone housing subdivisions, such as the Jade Valley Subdivision, had asked the vice mayor to intervene, hoping to put a stop to the payment of their housing mortgages within the subdivision, which developers carved out of the dried up riverbed and proved to be prone to flooding.

RADICAL ADVENTURES INTO THE RAINFOREST

The rainforests have been called the lungs of the world, and they are home to the greatest diversity of species of any biome. The massive and accelerating destruction of the rainforests for purposes of raising cattle and exploiting mineral resources is an obscene tragedy on a scale beyond description. And so when individuals with the necessary drive, curiosity and courage undertake radical adventures into the rainforest and return to tell about it, it is cause for celebration. And so it is with two extraordinary recent books: Walking the Amazon, by Ed Stafford, and Naked in Eden, by Robin Easton.

In 2007, Ed Stafford was searching with a friend for an excursion into the wilderness that would represent a blend of nature study, an outstanding feat of physical fitness, and an accomplishment never before attained. Without knowing much about what it would entail, he settled upon the idea of walking the entire length of the Amazon River, some four thousand miles, from its origins in the heights of the Andes mountains in Peru, all the way to the Atlantic ocean in Brazil. The river had been traversed its whole length previously by canoe, but never by anyone navigating exclusively on foot.

Planning for the excursion required 15 months of meticulous preparation. Stafford had a background as a captain in the British army and several years experience as a wilderness nature guide, so he was not entirely unfamiliar with the nature of the challenge he had set for himself. Nevertheless, he was trying to accomplish something no one else had even attempted, much less achieved, and which most knowledgeable observers considered impossible.

The Amazon is not a nice, tidy flow of water, secure within banks lined with established paths and trails. On the contrary, the river is an unruly mass, swelling with the seasons, restless in its boundaries, often overflowing and flooding the surrounding countryside. Add to this the perils posed by native populations, sometimes suspicious of and hostile to outsiders; the palpable danger of stumbling across narcotics operations near the portion of the river that runs through Colombia; the threat of arrest by legal authorities ever vigilant about passports, visas and local rights of passage; and these are just the hurdles not presented by the jungle itself.

For Stafford, the rainforest was not a source of wonder and beauty but a formidable obstacle to overcome. To be sure, he was conscious of ecological considerations, careful about recording illegal logging operations, and committed not to consume endangered species for food. But his driven, goal-oriented attitude forced him to regard the jungle as a stubborn foe of sorts, a multiheaded monster that could end his journey with a single poisonous snakebite or a thousand cuts by razor grass.
Somehow, in spite of all odds, Stafford actually completed his impossible expedition. It required 860 days -- well over two years -- most of them accomplished with a single companion and some 80 pounds of gear on his back. At the end of it all, he had acquired "over 200,000 mosquito and ant bites each; about 600 wasp stings; a dozen scorpion stings...; and one Guinness World Record." Within days of his achievement, over 900 articles had been written about it world wide, and soon he was named European Adventurer of the Year.

For a study in contrast, it would be hard to find a greater gulf in experience than that represented by Robin Easton's book, Naked in Eden. The two stories have in common a close encounter with the rainforest, sustained over a period of many months. Both authors endured extreme hardships and exposed themselves to exceptional dangers. Both came away radically changed by their experience. But there the similarity ends.

Stafford's psychological journey consisted of finding within himself the deep determination to persist in the face of severe and prolonged adversity. Easton's journey was of another kind altogether. She was raised in the countryside of Maine, where both her parents were attuned to the rhythms of nature. Her father often took her on day trips into the wild and taught her survival skills and the ability to appreciate the beauty of the rivers, the wildlife and the forest.

Later, as a young woman trying to find her way in society, Easton felt increasingly alienated, uprooted and ill. The rainforest proved to be her salvation. She had married a man from Australia who was sensitive to her moods and needs, and courageous enough to accompany her into the wild. By virtue of his youthful pluck and initiative, they made their way into the Daintree rainforest on the northeast coast of Australia and set up camp in a place completely removed from human beings. At 1,200 square kilometres, the Daintree represents 0.2 percent of the landmass of Australia, yet it is home to 20 percent of the continent's species of birds, 30 percent of its frog, marsupial and reptile species and 65 percent of its bat and butterfly species.

Over the course of more than a year, Easton underwent a profound psychological transformation. Her husband had a phobia of snakes and spent his days in camp and on the beach, but Easton hiked every day deep into the forest. There she communed with the plants, trees, rocks, streams and wildlife and learned to understand herself as well as her connection with the natural world. She felt the trees speak to her and explain the laws of nature and the tragedy of mankind's disassociation from the earth and its inhabitants.

"Naked in Eden" is not just a metaphor. Easton shed her clothes and her shoes and hiked stark naked, mile after mile, day after day, into the heart of the rainforest. She had countless adventures with birds, snakes, marsupials, trees, and all the other inhabitants of the wild. Perhaps the foremost lesson she learned was the all-encompassing lesson of love. She felt the rainforest pulsating with beauty and life, embracing her completely, with no judgment, but radiating love.

Stafford and Easton are both pioneers in a world where everything seems already to be known. Both found their way into the inner recesses of nature, and both came away radically changed by the experience. They are poles apart in the essence of what drove them and what they discovered, but they are alike in bringing back to civilization the clarion call of the wild. We owe them both our gratitude, and we owe it to ourselves to heed the lessons they have learned.

Source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-edmund-moody/radical-adventures-into-t_b_2553185.html

FOREST FIRE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

The first water-dropping helicopter was en route to a fast-moving forest fire in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley nearly half an hour after it was first reported, according to a timeline compiled by the provincial government, which says an initial review has found the response was fast and well co-ordinated.

The fire started in high winds just outside of Peachland on Sept. 9, causing 1,500 residents to flee and destroying four houses.

Newly released audio recordings of RCMP radio dispatches detailed the initial response, as Mounties on the ground called for help and at times appeared frustrated that firefighters were not on the scene sooner.

But the B.C. Forests Ministry says although its review largely confirmed the account gleaned from the audio recordings, it also indicates the response by provincial firefighters was appropriate in the circumstances.

"An initial review by all responding agencies shows an excellent co-ordinated response. The ministry has received numerous compliments for its fast response to this fire," the ministry said in a fact sheet released this week.

"Given the aggressive behaviour of this wildfire, public and first responder safety was of paramount importance. No injuries were reported during this incident."

The fire was first reported at 2:55 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 9, and emergency officials quickly confirmed it was just outside the jurisdiction of Peachland's volunteer fire department, leaving the initial response to the provincial wildfire management branch.

A forest officer was in a truck driving to the scene by 3:10, according to the ministry timeline.

By 3:22, about 27 minutes after the fire was first reported, the first water-dropping helicopter was in the air and en route. The chopper's travel time to the fire was estimated to be about five minutes.

At roughly the same time, a duty officer with the Peachland Fire Department responded.

The forest officer requested Peachland's help at 3:27, and the two vehicles from the department were dispatched within minutes. The first Peachland Fire Department member was on the scene at 3:34, according to the ministry — 39 minutes after the fire was first reported.

Meanwhile, the fire was growing rapidly in strong winds..

The fire moved one kilometre in just half an hour — or 33 metres every minute, according to the ministry fact sheet.

At one point, sparks and embers capable of starting smaller fires — a process known as spotting — were being carried up to 500 metres ahead of the main fire.

At 3:59 p.m., a bird-dog plane, which makes observations and directs air tankers carrying fire retardant, flew overhead. An air tanker dropped the first load of fire retardant at 4:16, according to the ministry.

The ministry said it would also conduct a full review into the response, as it does with all significant fires.

Neither the provincial wildfire management branch nor the Peachland Fire Department have targets for response times.

The Forests Ministry said such guidelines aren't practical for provincial firefighters because of the size of the province. Instead, the ministry noted 92 per cent of all wildfires are contained before they reach four hectares.

The Peachland Fire Department, which required a request from the province before leaving its own boundaries, also said response time targets don't make sense, because response times often depend on where volunteers are when a fire breaks out and how quickly they can reach the fire hall before responding.

The ministry fact sheet noted the wildfire management branch has an agreement with Emergency Management B.C. to co-ordinate responses when fires are near populated areas. In such cases, a response that involves multiple agencies is handled through a "unified command structure," which was put into action in the Peachland fire.

The ministry noted that agreement allows municipal fire departments to respond to fires outside of their jurisdiction if requested by the wildfire management branch.

The Peachland fire started about two kilometres up the road from the end of the Peachland Fire Department's jurisdiction.

Elsie Lemke, chief administrative officer with the District of Peachland, said a major issue in such cases is insurance, including personal and corporate liability and workers' compensation.

"We're covered for responding to fires or other emergencies within our boundaries," said Lemke.

"The only time we're covered to go outside out boundaries is when we're called by the appropriate organization that has the right to request us or when a neighbouring community calls and asks for our help when it's under a mutual aid (agreement)."

There are a number of homes and acreages along the road between the district and where the fire started, near a park on the side of Highway 97C.

Lemke noted in 2010 the Regional District of Central Okanagan planned to explore the possibility of funding fire protection in the valley.

When the regional district asked the province for help in paying for such a study, the government said its grant funding had been used up for the year. Lemke said Peachland has not heard anything further about the issue since then.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com

"VIRGIN BIRTH" AMONG ANIMALS

"Virgin birth" among animals may not be a rare, last-resort, save-the-species stopgap after all.

For the first time, animal mothers, specifically pit vipers, have been discovered spawning fatherless offspring in the wild. More to the point, the snakes did so even when perfectly good males were around.

Among vertebrate animals that normally reproduce sexually, virlgin birth, or parthenogenesis, had been observed in only captive female snakes, Komodo dragons, birds, and sharks.

Until now it's been considered an evolutionary novelty, albeit one that made a sort of sense—a way for a bloodline to continue in the absence of suitable fathers.

For the study behind the find, published in this week's issue of the journal Biology Letters, a team led by biologist Warren Booth of the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma captured pregnant copperhead and cottonmouth (see picture) females from fields where males were present. When the snakes gave birth, the researchers documented the physical and genetic characteristics of the litters.

Tests showed that 1 of the 22 copperhead mothers had given birth parthenogenetically, as had 1 of the 37 cottonmouth snakes collected—a ratio Booth finds surprisingly high.

"The fact that we find it in such small sample sizes is quite remarkable," Booth said. "What we're going to do now is go back to these populations and do sampling year-to-year to see if we can find instances of parthenogenesis again."



Virgin-Birth Mysteries

Why would female snakes undergo parthenogenesis when males are available?

One possibility: It might have been the only way they could reproduce. Booth noted that the copperhead that underwent parthenogenesis was smaller than usual—and perhaps passed over by males in favor of fitter females.

Other scientists have suggested that parthenogenesis is a kind of random reproductive mistake. Booth himself is investigating the possibility that a bacteria or virus is the trigger.

Another mystery: Each of the two virgin-birth litters consisted of a single snake. A normal copperhead litter might number between 6 and 9, while cottonmouths can spawn up to 20 offspring.

Also, the two virgin-birth baby snakes were both male. That might just seem like the luck of the draw, except that every known parthenogenetic snake offspring has been male—a certifiable scientific mystery.

"It would be interesting to see if we can find females," Booth said. "There's no reason realistically why we shouldn't find females, but in all of the [snake] species that we've looked at ... they've all been males."

It's also unknown whether animals born by parthenogenesis can reproduce normally or have virgin births themselves.

Parthenogenetic offspring often exhibit abnormalities or die early. That shouldn't surprise anyone, Booth said, since it's essentially "a severe form of inbreeding."



You're Safe for Now, Men

A virgin birth occurs when a polar body—a cell produced along with the egg—essentially functions like a sperm and "fertilizes" the egg.

As a result, the DNA of a virgin-birth offspring, or "parthenogen," doesn't perfectly match that of its parent—the offspring is a sort of half clone.

So far, parthenogenesis has only been observed among sharks, reptiles, and birds (which are closely related to reptiles). Mammals aren't thought to be capable of parthenogenesis, because their reproduction requires copies of genes from both parents.

"So no human parthenogenesis anytime soon," said Stony Brook University marine biologist Demian Chapman, who discovered virgin birth among blacktip sharks.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com

Unprecedented threat for UK trees from pests

All species are vulnerable to potential attacks - from ecologically vital oaks to non-native ornamental species, such as lawson cypresses.
The biggest risk, it warns, comes from non-native organisms, which - in their natural range - are kept in check by natural predators and environmental conditions.
However, if they are able to become established in the UK's natural environment then there are often no natural controls to curb their spread, resulting in a potentially devastating impact on the landscape.
In October 2011, UK Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman launched the Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Action Plan, warning that millions of trees could be lost in the next few years unless urgent action was taken.
The Commission recently published biosecurity guidance, offering advice on steps that can be taken to avoid accidentally spreading damaging organisms on clothes, footwear, vehicles, etc.
"The fact that we are an island has helped us, because we are fairly impoverished compared with the European mainland," explained Hugh Evans, head of Forest Research in Wales.
"So even the 20 miles of water is enough to protect us from the pests that are quite dangerous on the mainland."
But our relative isolation has come at a cost, he warned.
"If pests do get through, then they arrive without the spectrum of natural enemies and that is one element that can make the effect within the arrival country much worse than in the country of origin."

Growing trade

Richard McIntosh from Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) says the growing volume of international trade is one reason for concern. "Trade is becoming increasingly global, and there is an ever-widening diversity of plants and plant material being traded around the world," he told BBC News.
"There are examples of where pests or pathogens have been introduced, and it is very difficult to respond to them once they are within the EU.
"Prevention is much better than cure but identifying all of the risks is not always the easiest thing to do."
Probably the most widely publicised pathogen is Phytophthora ramorum, a fungal organism which was suspected of being introduced to these shores via the plant trade. There is no treatment; infected trees have to be felled and removed from the natural environment.
Although it had been present at low levels in the UK for a number of years, in 2009 there was a sudden change in the pathogen's behaviour. It was recorded infecting and killing the commercially important Japanese larch trees in South-West England.
It was the first time in the world that P. ramorum had been found on a species of conifer. It has since been recorded affecting larch trees at sites in all four UK nations.
John Morgan, head of the Forestry Commission's Plant Health Service observed: "We are still are pursuing a policy of reducing the level of the disease so then it does not spread further.
"If, over a number of years of felling, we can reduce its spread we can then preserve what we have left in terms of larch in forests."
Dr Morgan added that the disease would not be eradicated: "Once something like that is established then we are purely looking at a policy of containment.
"P. ramorum is definitely in the realms of containment strategies. By the time it was discovered in larches, it was too late."
Experts say the symptoms to look out for on larch trees include dead and rtipaally flushed trees present in groups, patches or distributed throughout a stand. An affected tree's crown and branches die back, and there is a distinctive yellowing or ginger colour beneath the bark.

Unwelcomed guests

Another pest that was introduced to the UK as a result of human activity was the great spruce bark beetle. 

"It clearly came into this country via wood that had not been debarked properly," said Prof Evans.
"What was interesting - and I think this is [a] somewhat typical story - is that although we found it in 1982, our subsequent research found that it had been in the country at least 10 years prior to that."
The beetle breeds under the bark and destroys the cambium (a layer of growing tissue that produces new cells to carry water, sugars and nutrients around the tree). This weakens the tree, and in most extreme cases, the damage can kill the tree.
As part of their research, Prof Evans said scientists quickly identified a possible "bio-control" option. They introduced a natural predator - another species of beetle called Rhizophagus grandis.
"We were able to bring that beetle in to the country; we got the very first licence for the release of a non-native species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
"It proved to be incredibly successful," he told BBC News.
"[The great spruce bark beetle] did kill quite a few trees, but after the predator was introduced and we continued to monitor it for a few years, its population has dropped to a relatively low level. It is still spreading, but the predator seems to be following it."

Preventing pests

Dr Morgan said UK control measures involved four stages.



"We try to prevent pest and diseases entering the country; then, if they have arrived, we switch to a policy of eradication to try and stop them becoming established," he said.
"If they do become established then we try and follow a policy of containment which is to try and slow or stop the spread of the pest.
Finally, if all previous three efforts have failed then we operate a way that we can live with the particular pest or disease."
There are a number of ways that scientists are able track the global or regional spread of a pest or pathogen, such as the EU Plant Health Directive that requires nations to report new outbreaks or new pathogens.
Another way data is shared among researchers is via bodies such as the European Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization and the International Plant Protection Convention.
"Both of these organisations have notification systems where countries are able to report developments that might be of wider interest," revealed Fera's Richard McIntosh.
"We monitor that sort of intelligence, together with information that might be coming out via publications, and also what we are finding - such as what we are intercepting at the national borders."
Mr McIntosh said this information is used to produce a document known as a Pest Risk Analysis (PRA), which looks at the risks, possible impacts and control of each organism within a UK context.

Wider impact

Andrew Sharkey, head of woodland management for the Woodland Trust, said the impact of pests and diseases often had ramifications that were felt beyond the individual trees that were infected.

"Two of our sites have been affect by [Phytophthora ramorum]... so we had to fell the larch on those sites," he said.
"We are comfortable with this because it is good practice but it means that it has disrupted all of the site plans for those sites.
"The larches on one of the sites were on what we call 'planted ancient woodlands', which we were trying to restore back to native woodlands.
"This has an immediate impact on our biodiversity work and planning work."
In 2011, Natural England's Keith Kirby warned that the future well-being of the UK's oak trees was at a crossroads because of the potential threat from a disease known as Acute Oak Decline (AOD), which experts warned could be as devastating to the treescape as Dutch elm disease.
Dr Kirby told BBC News that research was helping shed more light on dynamics of the mysterious disease.
"We are becoming more and more certain that it is basically a bacterial issue, and a beetle is involved in its spread. It appears that the problem is also exacerbated if the tree is under stress," he said.
"But we are not that much further along in terms of knowing exactly how abundant or widespread it is.
"At the moment, it does not look as if it has gone beyond the East Midlands and southern England area, where most of the records have come from."
As one of the UK's leading woodland ecologists, Dr Kirby said people had to be philosophical about the fact that the composition of woodlands were going to change.
"We cannot attempt to maintain the mixtures that existed in the past," he observed. "We have to accept that there will be change, and manage the dynamic situation.
"If you have got a changing environment, you cannot expect the communities and assemblages of species of past environments to survive."


Source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19167307