Integrating natural and social science perspectives on plant disease risk, management and policy formulation

Plant diseases threaten both food security and the botanical diversity of natural ecosystems. Substantial research effort is focused on pathogen detection and control, with detailed risk management available for many plant diseases. Risk can be assessed using analytical techniques that account for d...

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Published in:Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences 2011-07, Vol.366 (1573), p.2035-2044
Main Authors: Mills, Peter, Dehnen-Schmutz, Katharina, Ilbery, Brian, Jeger, Mike, Jones, Glyn, Little, Ruth, MacLeod, Alan, Parker, Steve, Pautasso, Marco, Pietravalle, Stephane, Maye, Damian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural management
Agriculture
Community Participation
Dickeya
Disease risk
Environmental policy
Epidemiology
Food security
Governance
Invasive species
Pathogens
Phytophthora
Plant diseases
Plant Diseases - economics
Plants
Policy Formulation
Public Policy
Risk Factors
Risk Governance
Stakeholder Engagement
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Summary:Plant diseases threaten both food security and the botanical diversity of natural ecosystems. Substantial research effort is focused on pathogen detection and control, with detailed risk management available for many plant diseases. Risk can be assessed using analytical techniques that account for disease pressure both spatially and temporally. We suggest that such technical assessments of disease risk may not provide an adequate guide to the strategies undertaken by growers and government to manage plant disease. Instead, risk-management strategies need to account more fully for intuitive and normative responses that act to balance conflicting interests between stakeholder organizations concerned with plant diseases within the managed and natural environments. Modes of effective engagement between policy makers and stakeholders are explored in the paper, together with an assessment of such engagement in two case studies of contemporary non-indigenous diseases in one food and in one non-food sector. Finally, a model is proposed for greater integration of stakeholders in policy decisions.
ISSN:0962-8436
1471-2970
DOI:10.1098/rstb.2010.0411