Attack of the pine wood nematode in Spain

December 22, 2010 by timbercommunity

The pine wood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilis)  has been found in a forest in Spain, just 6o kilometers from the border with Portugal.  Portugal has suffered 10 years from the dreaded microscopic worm that damages and kills coniferous trees.

The pine wood nematode, was detected in November 2008 and successfully eradicated in 2008/2009. The worm has been causing widespread losses to pines in Japan since the early 1900's.  The new case in Spain shows the risk of further spread to pine forests in other parts of Europe.
Spain is taking steps to identify the extent of contamination and to prevent further spread of the worm. In the first stage they have felled and burned all the trees of susceptible species within a radius of 1.5 km from the discovered attack. Measures to prevent the spread of pinewood nematode are high priorities in the EU process and the Commission has stringent requirements on the handling of wood packaging, wood, bark, wood chips and seedlings of conifers from Portugal over the years.

The European Commission recently adopted a co-financing Decision granting € 7 million to programmes in six Member States aiming to combat organisms harmful to plants and to prevent them from spreading further in the European Union. The funds are granted to Member States that requested aid: Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, and Portugal. Money is also allocated for the control of two types of beetles, the Asian longhorn beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) in Germany and Italy and the Chinese longhorn beetle (Anoplophora chinensis) in Italy. Both insects attack a wide range of woody plant species and are mainly present in Asia. Moreover, funds are made available to control the red palm weevil (Rynchophorus ferrugineus) in France and Cyprus, which attacks palm trees. For more information on the Community plant health regime. More info: http://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/organisms/index_en.htm

- With regard to the risk of spread to Sweden, the use of untreated wood packaging material associated with movements of various kinds which we have been in focus, although we must not forget the trade in timber and pine bark, "says Karin Nordin, director of Plant inspection at the Board of Agriculture in Sweden.
 
There is reason to point out the need to use so-called ISPM15-marked wood packaging material in the intra-EU trade. The packaging is made of heat-treated wood.

- Agriculture has for years pushed the heat-packing according to the standard ISPM15 will become a requirement for intra-EU trade, "says Karin Nordin. Imports into the EU is already a requirement.