National Pest Plant Accord - Where to from here?
The National Pest Plant Accord (Accord) is a non-statutory agreement between the Nursery and Garden Industry Association (NGIA), regional authorities, MAF Biosecurity New Zealand and the Department of Conservation (DOC). Its purpose is to prevent the sale, propagation or distribution of specific pest plants. This is achieved by declaring all pest plants listed on the Accord (the 'Accord List') to be unwanted organisms under the Biosecurity Act 1993.
The Accord and the Accord List were originally established in 2001, and formally reviewed in 2006. The Accord has been renewed for another five years and currently includes 110 species, plus all species within four genera.
The Accord is a compliance strategy – an approach to achieving a set of desired 'biosecurity behaviours' – for example, 'do not sell, distribute or propagate these plants' – among a target audience. The 2006 review has widened the target audience to include casual markets, such as road-side stalls and weekend markets, as well as commercial nurseries and plant retail outlets. It includes a secondary focus on working with specific botanical interest groups and the general gardening public.
New Zealand's nursery and garden industry has demonstrated a strong sense of responsibility and support for the Accord. Compliance strategies supported by regional council staff encourage compliance through the use of good systems and rules, as well as education and persuasion. Inspections are also used, but are treated as an opportunity to assess and assist compliance in partnership with industry organisations. Enforcement and prosecution are a last resort.
A number of improvements have been made or are underway to strengthen implementation of the Accord, including better support for compliance staff, such as national compliance standard operating procedures; compliance database; plant identification training and information resources. Fact sheets and a manual containing photos and descriptions of plants on the Accord List have been produced, and regional councils have distributed these to plant outlets in their regions.
Work is also underway to develop a better way of assessing the risk of sterile cultivars of invasive species. This will allow more transparent decisions to be made about whether specific cultivars could be excluded from the Accord. This information could also be used by the horticultural trade to assess the risk of existing cultivars and help reduce the risk of invasiveness during the development of new cultivars.
For more information on the Accord and updates:
Or contact the National Coordinator:
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Page last updated: 18 June 2008