A New Working Program on Invasive Alien Species Started by a Multinational European Organization Dedicated to Protecting Plants1

Abstract

Abstract For more than 50 yr, the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) has made recommendations to its member countries for the protection of plants. In accordance with the revised International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), the EPPO aims to prevent the entry and spread of organisms, including invasive alien plants, directly or indirectly harmful to both cultivated and wild plants. It considers damage to both the agricultural and the natural environment. For the assessment, if an invasive alien species can be regulated as a quarantine pest according to the IPPC and for the identification of measures to prevent risks posed to plants, a pest risk analysis should be conducted. Based on the relevant IPPC standards, an EPPO risk assessment scheme applicable to direct plant pests in cultivated land is now being revised in order to be also applicable to potentially invasive plants and to assess the effects that invasive alien species relevant for plants pose to the uncultivated e...