Development and implementation of a national forest health surveillance strategy in South Africa

A forest health surveillance strategy is an essential and foundational component of a broader management strategy to manage forest insect pests and diseases (both native and non-native). The establishment of a surveillance programme enables a quick response and implementation of management interventions, such as eradication, control strategies and quarantine measures, against pests and pathogens that threaten the productivity and sustainability of the forestry sector. When such surveillance is consistently carried out over time, it also allows for the detection of changes in populations and distribution, for which drivers can then be identified. We report on the development and implementation of a national forest health surveillance strategy in South Africa. The objective is to provide a coordinated approach that connects the existing components of surveillance, adds and upscales lacking components, and provides a data platform for efficient data capture, integration of data from different surveillance related activities, and near real time sharing of information for decision making. Protocols for monitoring pests and pathogens of young (1-3 yrs) eucalypts and pine have been developed and the first season’s data has been used to optimize data verification and visualization. Monitoring of older stands will require the development of different protocols, and drone and remote sensing technologies are being investigated for that purpose.