Scientists back ‘One Biosecurity’ refresh

Gerald Piddock NEWS Biosecurity

NEW Zealand needs a wholesystem approach to its biosecurity to better connect the community, scientists and governing bodies if it is to remain fit for purpose.

A singular, interconnected system is needed to address the fact that so many biosecurity risks are cross sectoral, Lincoln University’s Professor Philip Hulme said during a webinar on the future of biosecurity for NZ’s dairy sector, organised by the university.

an outbreak occurs – whether it’s Mycoplasma bovis or foot and mouth disease – dread and uncertainty remain.

Workshops were held with the Ashburton farming community last year to co-develop initiatives around safer trading of stock and other aspects to improve biosecurity responses.

When an incursion occurs, farmers are also dealing with the financial and environmental challenges that come with running a farming business.

But the report’s findings were not limited to failings in forestry plantings alone, with the likelihood of landslides on 20-degree slopes greater on pastureland than on exotic forests in the Hawke’s Bay region.

Further north in Gisborne, high producing grassland and exotic forest had similar likelihoods for land slippage.

The report authors note that high producing grassland tended to be more susceptible than exotic forests to landslides, except in Gisborne coastal hill country. The report’s authors have recommended more detailed field investigations to determine specific causes of forest plantation failure.

But landslides in Tairāwhiti were found to be linked to land where plantations had been harvested, with those plantations being almost five times more likely to experience landslides compared to indigenous forest. That increased to more than 10 times the rate after the plantation had been harvested.

Of the 300 million tonnes of soil released, Esk Valley is estimated to have received about 6 million tonnes, with half of that dumped into waterways and 1.5 million tonnes laid on the river valley flood plain to an average depth of 80cm.