Lesson 2: Resources Used to Conduct Pest Risk Assessment

Topic 1: Types of Information Needed for Pest Risk Assessment

In this topic, we will introduce the various common approaches to risk assessment and their applications in PRA. We will also explore the pros and cons of each of these methods.

Objectives:

  • Be able to provide a general overview of qualitative and quantitative approaches to pest risk assessment
  • Be able to discuss the advantages and disadvantages associated with each approach

Pest risk assessments contain a variety of information. The basic unit of most pest risk assessments begins with the assessment of a specific pest; therefore, all pest risk assessments typically include biological and technical information about pests. The type of pest risk assessment will usually dictate what types of information are needed. The information can be:

  • Qualitative (descriptive and/or with descriptive ratings)
  • Quantitative (numerical, statistical or monetary)

The two driving factors that determine whether an assessment uses qualitative or quantitative information are the purpose of the assessment and the availability of information. In practice, analysts often make use of both kinds of information in a risk assessment.

Click on the images below to learn more about the types of information that may be gathered and used in a pest risk assessment.

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Importland Case Study

Consider this fictional situation: your country, Importland, is the world’s largest exporter of tamola. Importland’s tamola growers have been talking to growers in a nearby country, Exportland. They have learned that the Exportland growers are having trouble with an organism called Pestis horribilis. The organism is thought to cause extensive losses by eating the flower buds that produce tamola fruit.

As you begin investigating Pestis horribilis, you will need to gather currently known information about this potential pest. What type of information should you collect? Here is an essential list to begin with.

  • Identification of the pest (taxonomy, relationship with known quarantine pests, methods of pest identification for inspection purposes, methods for detection)
  • Biology of the pest (life cycle, dissemination/dispersal, survival in adverse conditions, adaptability)
  • Geographical distribution of the pest
  • Host plants of the pest (host plants in the areas where the pest occurs, host and closely related plants in the PRA area that could be affected, host range, ability of the pest to jump plant species)
  • Likelihood of entry and spread of the pest
  • Current pest control methods
  • Pest transport
  • Economic, environmental, and social impacts of the pest

If the scope of your analysis is broader than assessment of a single pest, you will need to gather additional information as well. For example, if you are conducting an assessment on a particular commodity, such as for a market access request, you will need to gather information on the commodity as well. You will need to find information about the following:

  • Taxonomy of the commodity
  • Biology, including climatic preferences, seasonality, and growth pattern
  • Production, including all harvest and postharvest practices from the field to the packinghouse

Usually the best source for this kind of information is the exporting country.

Under both the SPS Agreement and the IPPC, countries are obligated to base phytosanitary measures on pest risk analysis. The IPPC identifies certain types of information that countries must report to other contracting parties, to the IPPC Secretariat, and/or to RPPOs. In this topic, you learned about the types of information necessary for conducting a pest risk assessment, including basic pest biology, damage caused by pests, pest pathways, and commodity handling.

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