Tourism and the environment: don’t bring plants and seeds home from your holidays
The European Union’s campaign (Plant Health 4 Life) to prevent the import of pests that could destroy the Old Continent’s ecosystems
Key points
To promote simple everyday actions to protect plant health and preserve the ecosystem. These are the objectives of the official campaign launched by the European Commission and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), entitled Plant Health 4 Life: the initiative involves 33 countries, including Switzerland and most EU countries, such as Italy. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Turkey are in the pre-accession phase. It is open to everyone, but is aimed in particular at travellers, gardeners who grow and look after vegetables, flowers and trees at home, and, as explained, ‘parents concerned about the food their children eat and keen to protect the environment and biodiversity for future generations’. After all, plants make up 80 per cent of the food we consume, feed the animals we rear and purify the air we breathe.
Travel: recommendations for protecting ecosystems
A key aspect to understand relates to travel. Here, there is just one recommendation, but it is a top priority: you must not bring plants and seeds home from your holidays. That single act, which appears harmless, is in fact very dangerous for ecosystems. It can lead to the proliferation of organisms that are harmful to the environment. “One of the most dangerous plants is the mango,” says Federico Sorgoni of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, spokesperson for the campaign. This is because mangoes may harbour an oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis) which has no natural predators and can cause many problems. This issue has already arisen in Italia, where harmful organisms have also been found on jackfruit.
Be wary of tomato seeds too: the Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus is considered rather difficult to eradicate. The pinewood nematode is also a microscopic worm-like parasite capable of rapidly killing pine trees and devastating forests. Until 1999, it had never been detected in the EU. First introduced in Portugal, it is now also present in parts of Spain and has recently been reported in France. To prevent its spread, EU regulations require that all at-risk trees (mainly pine trees) located within a 500-metre radius of the outbreak be felled and destroyed, with serious economic and environmental consequences, particularly in regions characterised by extensive pine forests.
The countries most at risk and e-commerce
As Sorgoni explained, ‘the countries most at risk are tropical ones and those with a significant flow of people, including tourists’. One of these is Brazil, but Thailand should also be kept under close watch, as should, in general, the whole of Asia.
The rules are simple: a phytosanitary certificate is required for imports of plants from non-EU countries, whilst a plant passport is required for EU countries. Checks are carried out at airports: failure to comply with the rules can result in hefty fines of up to 12,000 euros. ‘E-commerce is also particularly risky, as there are fewer checks,’ notes Sorgoni. ‘International trade has brought all countries closer together but also presents challenges. In general, the advice is always to buy products that come with certification.’
