Red palm weevil: governance and regional phytosanitary systems

The red palm weevil (RPW) is a major trans boundary pest affecting date palms worldwide. The weevil is causing devastating damage to more than 40 palm species worldwide including date palm, affecting production, the environment and the livelihoods of millions of farmers. The annual losses in date palms in the Mediterranean countries is estimated at 480 million Euros. RPW is a pest of big concern for many countries and is considered as quarantine pest. Despite the efforts done by countries to prevent its introduction or its spread, the lack of specific regulations/guidelines on phytosanitary measures to regulate the palm trade, especially at the entry points has been pointed out by the FAO RPW Eradication Strategy clearly as gaps and challenges in most of national policies and regulatory systems explaining the failure to control RPW. Long-distance dissemination of many pests/pathogens occurs mostly via infected/infested propagative material. The effective control of RPW requires more coordination with the NENA region. NEPPO will develop in this context 1) a regional standard of a harmonized phytosanitary measures (at borders and inspection on the territory; 2) a regional standard protocol for available and cost-effective treatments of offshoots and ornamentals (at border); and 3) a pest free area protocol to help the extension of date palm area and to provide other areas with safe date palm offshoots.