Being prepared for huanglongbing disease of citrus: a simulation exercise workshop for contingency planning held in Valencia, Spain

Abstract

AbstractContingency plans aim to ensure a rapid and effective response to an outbreak of a pest likely which is to have a major impact. Huanglongbing is a devastating disease of citrus not yet present in the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) region. A simulation exercise workshop for contingency planning was held in Valencia, Spain over 3 days in October 2021 as part of the PRE‐HLB project funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 programme. In total, 49 experts from the EPPO region attended the workshop. Participants represented a range of stakeholders from citrus cooperatives, grower associations, nursery workers, citrus exporters, landscapers and gardeners, scientists, Regional Plant Health Authorities, National Plant Protection Organizations and the European Commission. Participants were split into five groups and each group acted as an outbreak management team for a scenario based on a finding of a quarantine pest. The scenario followed the first (fictitious) finding of Diaphorina citri (the insect vector of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’, a causal agent of huanglongbing) at a citrus orchard in Spain. As the scenario developed over a month time scale, each team had to organize themselves to manage a number of issues designed to mimic the development of an outbreak of huanglongbing of citrus over the course of the exercise. The groups acknowledged the usefulness of the Spanish contingency plans for huanglongbing and its vectors, the EPPO Standards, and the risk‐based surveillance design tool RiBESS+.