Editorial - Aligning our Biosecurity Efforts
Douglas Birnie
One of the outcomes from the New Zealand Biosecurity Strategy (2003) was the establishment of MAF Biosecurity New Zealand (MAFBNZ) as New Zealand's lead agency for biosecurity. Our "whole-of-system" leadership role encompasses economic, environmental, social and cultural outcomes, and also involves international trade and animal welfare responsibilities.
The Biosecurity Strategy was a catalyst for MAFBNZ to build an end-to-end biosecurity role that incorporates strategic, regulatory and service functions.
One of the weaknesses that had been identified by the strategy was fragmented accountabilities and poor inter-agency coordination.
Much work has been done in the past four and a half years to address this. MAFBNZ has undergone its own transformations, to better position it to deliver what the Government wants. The most recent of these was the incorporation of the former MAF Quarantine Service within MAFBNZ, with staff now deployed into Passenger, Cargo Clearance and Border Standards Groups. We have also taken in biosecurity functions formerly done by other departments – leadership in pest management, for example.
While our role has been strengthened and broadened in recent years, it would be a mistake to assume that MAFBNZ is turning into a super-biosecurity organisation that does everything. We do not, and never will. We work closely with, and rely on, other departments, professional bodies, industry groups, research organisations, community groups, individuals and others to help us ensure New Zealand's biosecurity efforts are coordinated and effective.
This issue of Biosecurity focuses on aligning our efforts, and the featured articles provide a snapshot showing how this works in practice.
The first of these looks at biodiversity. MAFBNZ's frontline efforts support New Zealand biodiversity – which features in the recommendations of the Biosecurity Strategy – largely through efforts to keep out pests and diseases. But much can also be done at the individual landowner level to encourage and support biodiversity projects, and the article on page 4 looks at the funding mechanisms available to support these valuable local initiatives.
On page 6 we look at a very favourable independent assessment of the New Zealand Forest Owners Association's forest health surveillance programme – an initiative that feeds valuable information into our biosecurity surveillance effort.
When exotic animal diseases of major significance are detected, plans for international cooperation and assistance swing into operation. The equine influenza outbreak in Australia late last year provides numerous examples of the cooperation and alignment of effort that takes place. MAFBNZ incursion investigators (see page 8) and laboratory staff (page 15) provided assistance to their Australian counterparts and, in doing so, gained valuable insights into how we could respond in the event of a similar outbreak here.
The Australian equine influenza outbreak prompted a response alert in New Zealand, and the important partnership role in this of the New Zealand Racing Board and New Zealand Equine Health Association is featured on page 10. New Zealand's veterinarians would play an essential part in an equine influenza response, and on page 9 we look at a recent workshop for equine vets on methods for preventing spread of the virus between properties.
Pests and diseases have no respect for boundaries, either administrative or on the land. On page 23 we look at the Department of Conservation's conservation management strategies for public lands and how these are aligned with regional pest management strategies.
In a related article (page 24) we look at how pest management programmes are coordinated when they cross regional or administrative boundaries. MAFBNZ is leading a project to provide a framework to support decisions on when a pest management programme should be coordinated, and which organisation should lead this.
Finally, animal welfare is an element of our biosecurity system which also features an alignment of effort both nationally and internationally. On page 12 we hear from the European Commission's Dr Andrea Gavinelli, who was in New Zealand recently describing how the EU is working with countries like New Zealand to help shape internationally accepted measures of farm animal welfare.
These examples of the work being done to align our biosecurity efforts are not the first we have published. Our stories on the November 2007 Biosecurity Summit, Working together at the border featured many others (Biosecurity 80, December 2007). It is an underlying theme that will continue to appear in the pages of Biosecurity. As always, we welcome your feedback on this and other issues.
- Douglas Birnie
Director Policy and Risk
MAF Biosecurity New Zealand
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Page last updated: 30 April 2008