Phytosantitary research and collaboration:

Contributing to safe trade of forest

products globally
CIF Lecture Series
Dec 5, 2018

Meghan Noseworthy
Natural Resources Canada
Canadian Forest Service
Victoria BC
 Protecting forest resources from forest pests
Minimize pest risk in international trade
• Develop and implement policies to
minimize international pest
movement
• Research to understand pest risks,
pathways Roger Brett NoFC, CFS

• Develop pest reduction strategies in

wood product processing
 Commission on Phytosanitary Measures
• The CPM is the standard-setting
organization for International Plant
Protection Convention (IPPC) under the
agreement of the Application of Sanitary
and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS
Agreement)
• Members: National Plant Protection
Organizations, NPPOs (183 countries)

• Goal: prevent plant pests being spread

through international trade

• ISPMs International Standards for

Phytosanitary Measures
 International and Regional Standards for
Phytosanitary Measures
(ISPMs and RSPMs)
RSPM No. 11 Import Requirements for Dunnage and Wood
Packaging Material 2000

ISPM No. 15 Regulation of wood packaging material in

international trade 2002

RSPM No. 33 Guidelines for regulating the movement of ships and

cargo from areas infested with Asian gypsy moth 2009

ISPM No. 39 International movement of wood 2017

RSPM No. 41 Use of systems approaches to manage pest risk

associated with the movement of forest products 2018
 Technical Panel on Forestry Quarantine
(TPFQ)
• Formal IPPC body
• develops international phytosanitary standards

International Forestry Quarantine Research Group (IFQRG)

Independent scientific advisory body
 Guide to implementation of
phytosanitary standards in forestry

• FAO Forestry publication

– Input from more than 100
specialists from 46
countries
– Incorporates systems
approaches for risk
reduction in forestry
practices
 Forest trees are transformed into
internationally-traded wood commodities
 Value of Global Forest Product Exports
300

250

200
Billions $US

150

100

50

0
1961 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2013

Year Source: FAOSTAT 2016

Increased trade moves pests globally

Slide complements of Hugh Evans, UK

 Historical forest pest introductions to Canada
Forest pest Year Likely entry pathway
Beech bark disease 1890 live plant
Chestnut blight 1904 live plant
Balsam woolly adelgid 1908 E, 1950 W live plant
White pine blister rust 1910 live plant
Gypsy moth 1924 E, 1975 W escape/adventive
Dutch elm disease 1944 logs/packaging
Arborvitae weevil 1947 E, 1991 W live plant
Butternut canker 1991 live plant
Brown spruce longhorned beetle 1999 wood packaging
Emerald ash borer 2002 wood packaging
Asian longhorned beetle 2004 wood packaging
Sirex wood wasp 2005 wood packaging
Banded elm bark beetle 2013 wood packaging
Green alder sawfly 1990 E, 2010 W wood packaging
Alder leaf miner 2009 adventive/ debris
European Elm leaf weevil 2011 adventive/ debris
Beech leaf-mining weevil 2007 adventive
 Wood commodities in international trade

Commodity 2014 global exports

Round wood 143 million m3
Fuelwood 9 million m3
Industrial roundwood 133 million m3
Sawn wood 133 million m3
Wood pulp 59 million tonnes
Panels 83 million m3
Veneer and plywood 33 million m3
Particleboard and fibreboard 50 million m3
Wood pellets 15 million tonnes
Wood Chips 23 million tonnes
Source: FAOSTAT 2016
 Wood commodities in international trade

Commodity 2014 global exports

Round wood 143 million m3
Fuelwood 9 million m3
Industrial roundwood 133 million m3
Sawn wood 133 million m3
Wood pulp 59 million tonnes
Panels 83 million m3
Veneer and plywood 33 million m3
Particleboard and fibreboard 50 million m3
Wood pellets 15 million tonnes
Wood Chips 23 million tonnes
Source: FAOSTAT 2016
 Phytosanitary risk

• Phytosanitary risk mitigated with

increased processing

Risk Commodity Treatment

High Raw logs Inspection for
pests
Logs Mechanical
debarking
Logs Bark-free
Lumber Untreated
Lumber HT (e.g. 56° C
for 30 min)
Low Lumber KD-HT

http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/pubwarehouse/pdfs/32149.pdf
 Trees are the habitat for many organisms

Insects

Fungi

Nematodes
 Foliage pests

Where pests live Bark and wood pests

in trees

Root pests
Deep wood inhabiting pests

Sapwood, phloem pests

Bark pests
Building strategies for pest risk reduction

• What pests could be present?

• Are they of phytosanitary concern?
• Where in the tree is pest found?
• What life stages are present?
• Life cycle of pest
• Reproductive biology
• Establishment potential
• Response to available treatments
Measures for mitigating pests
Measures for mitigating pests
in the forest
• Silvicultural practices to reduce pests
• Surveillance
• Choosing trees to harvest and process
Measures for mitigating
pests after harvest
• Grading and “scaling” of logs
• Debarking
• Sawing
• Grading sawn wood
• Treatments applied to sawn wood
• Post-entry measures
 Phytosanitary Measures

Phytosanitary measure
Any legislation, regulation or official procedure having
the purpose to prevent the introduction or spread of
quarantine pests, or to limit the economic impact of
regulated non-quarantine pests.
(ISPM No. 5: Glossary of Phytosanitary Terms)

• Clearly defined
• Efficacious
• Certifiable
 Phytosanitary Treatments

Treatment
Official procedure for the killing, inactivation or
removal of pests, or for rendering pests infertile or for
devitalization. (ISPM 5)

Recognition of treatments
• Bilateral trade – mutual agreement
• International trade (IPPC) – must meet
requirements of ISPM 28 and be adopted by CPM
 Treatments
• Heat Treatment
• Fumigation
• Chemical
• Mechanical processing
(chipping, grinding)
• Irradiation
• Processed wood material
(plywood, pelletizing)
 Heat Treatment

The process in which a commodity is heated until it

reaches a minimum temperature for a minimum period
of time according to an official technical specification
[ISPM 15, 2002; revised ICPM, 2005]

ISPM 15
56°C - 30 min
 Heat Treatment

Kiln drying
• Normal production process for wood moisture reduction
• Generally uses heat suitable for phytosanitary certification
 Fumigation Treatments
Treatment with a chemical agent that reaches the
commodity wholly or primarily in a gaseous state [FAO,
1990; revised FAO, 1995]

• Methyl bromide
• Phosphine
• Sulfuryl fluoride
• Ethanedinitrile (EDN)
• Hydrogen cyanide
Problems:
• Environmental issues
• Human health concerns
• Application – temperature,
moisture, wood penetration
• Variable effect across life stages
 Chemical Treatments

Chemical impregnation
• Pressure, vacuum, heat
• “preserves” wood from decay
• Issues with penetration
• Living organisms already
present may survive

Anti-sapstain spray or dip

• Applied to green or KD wood
to prevent fungal growth
during transport
 Mechanical processing treatments

Chipping – Grinding
Wood chips
• Effective for most bark and wood boring
insects
• No effect on nematodes and fungi
(vector considerations)
• Control of chip size critical
Sawdust
• No effect on nematodes and fungi
Hog fuel
• Not an effective phytosanitary treatment
 Processed wood material
Products that are a composite of wood constructed
using glue, heat and pressure, or any combination
thereof [ISPM 15, 2002]

• Plywood
• Oriented strand board
• Wood pellets
 Verifying the efficacy of treatments

Japanese larch Douglas-fir Western hemlock

Wood inoculation with Phytophthora

 Detection of pine wood
nematode in wood

• RT- LAMP
• Validation of wood treatments

Positive Negative
samples controls
 Assessment Heat Treatment Data
for Quarantine Pests

• Scientific data that supports precise

heat treatment schedules
• Data on sub-lethal temperatures

Need for specific lethal time-temperature regimes

Define treatment schedules for insect and fungal pests of
quarantine concern
 Forest Product Systems Approach
Systems approach is “a pest risk management option
that integrates different measures, at least two of
which act independently, with cumulative effect”
ISPM 5
 Wood Products System Approach Example –
Ash sawn wood
• Emerald Ash Borer Agrilus planipennis
• Processes used in production of ash
lumber to reduce risk of moving EAB
• Effectiveness of pest risk reduction
process is based on understanding the
biology and life history traits

Debarking Milling Heat treatment - kiln drying

Compliance Agreements
 Summary – How Canadian Forest Service
research contributes to the safe trade of forest
products

ü Develop policies, standards & ü Strategies and measures for

guidelines pest risk reduction
ü Pathway analyses ü Verify and assessments of
ü Science for pest risk treatments
assessments ü Science for compliance
ü Expertise for phytosanitary agreements
market access ü Surveillance
 Acknowledgements
• CFS Researchers: Eric Allen, Leland Humble,
Jon Sweeney, Peter Silk, Isabel Leal, Rene
Alfaro, Vince Nealis, Chris MacQuarrie,
Krista Ryall, Brenda Callan, Simon Shamoun,
Jean Turgeon, David Gray, Barry Lyons, et al.

• CFIA, FP Innovations, BC FLNRORD,

NAPPO, IPPC, USDA APHIS, USDA Forest
Service, Canada Wood, CLSAB, QWEB,
OMNR
Phytosantitary research and
collaboration:
Contributing to safe trade of
forest products globally
CIF Lecture Series
Dec 5, 2018
Meghan Noseworthy
Natural Resources Canada
Canadian Forest Service
Victoria BC