Defra agency Central Science Laboratory (CSL) has launched PRATIQUE - Enhancements of Pest Risk Analysis Techniques, the EU Seventh Framework research project.

Expansion in the global trade of plant material over the last century has led to a steady increase in the rate of entry and establishment of new, economically or environmentally damaging plant pests, diseases and invasive alien species. The threat is likely to further increase as a result of climate change and EU expansion.

The purpose of PRATIQUE is to address the major challenges for pest risk analysis (PRA) in: predicting the entry and establishment of new plant pests, diseases and invasive alien species in the EU; estimating potential economic, environmental and social impacts; and preventing, eradicating, containing and controlling invasions. This will be achieved through the project’s three principal objectives: to assemble the datasets required to construct effective PRAs valid for the whole of the EU; to conduct multi-disciplinary research that enhances techniques used in PRA; and to develop an improved web-based, user-friendly decision support scheme.

The project brings together pest risk analysts, phytosanitary experts, invasive alien species specialists, ecologists, economists and risk modellers from eleven leading institutes from across the EU, two international organisations, one institute from Australia and one institute from New Zealand. They will produce the first structured inventory of PRA datasets for the EU and undertake targeted research to improve existing procedures and develop new methods.

The UK will be represented in the PRATIQUE project by CSL and Imperial College, London. The results of the project will be tested with a representative range of the major pests and invasive alien species affecting the cultivated and uncultivated habitats of the EU, and will be independently validated by phytosanitary experts.

The deliverables will be provided as protocols, decision support systems and computer programs, with examples of best practice made available to pest risk analysts through modules and direct links to the PRA scheme hosted by the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation (EPPO).