ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Exotic Species Ride Globalisation’s Coattails

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 6 2001 (IPS) - The removal of trade barriers and the expansion of tourism, by-products of the globalisation process, are facilitating the movement of organisms that can prove hazardous to agriculture and the environment, a reality that Brazil knows all too well.

There is lack of awareness worldwide about this source of serious agricultural losses, a problem that requires a great deal of human and financial resources to contain it, says Regina Vilarinho, an expert from the Brasilia-based Genetic Resources and Biotechnology Centre, part of the government’s agricultural research system.

The blights caused by invasive exotic species, as scientists have dubbed them, reduce crop yields and force farmers to use more agro-toxins, which are expensive and harmful to the environment and to human health, Vilarinho told IPS.

But there are also other negative economic consequences, such as bans on importing products from areas affected by pests, especially by the large markets of wealthy countries, which impose strict health barriers.

The United States and Japan, for example, are very demanding of proof that their imports do not contain harmful organisms. In addition, the European Union (EU) has sharp restrictions on the maximum level of residues from agro-toxins – pesticides and herbicides – allowed in its farm imports, said Vilarinho.

Furthermore, there are risks to biodiversity, as a species arriving from a distant region generally will not have “natural enemies” in its new medium, and often adapts to the local environment by “destroying native species in order to occupy their space” in the food chain, she explained.

South America is home to more than a third of the world’s biodiversity wealth, and its economy is largely based on natural resources. The region therefore must develop more effective mechanisms to prevent the introduction of exotic species and to control those that are already found in the region, according to local researchers.

Among the efforts being made towards those objectives was a meeting in Brazil in mid-October of experts from 12 South American countries. They called upon governments to step up information sharing programmes, to provide technical training and to coordinate the actions of the farming sector and ecological groups in defence of human health and the environment.

For the last decade, Vilarinho has been studying the white fly (Bemisia argentifolii), a pest that reduces yields in Brazil of various fruit crops, soya, beans and cotton.

The white fly, which was introduced in Brazil through the import of ornamental plants, caused crop losses worth 400 million dollars from 1991 to 1997, according to her calculations.

There have been other imported pests that have inflicted even more damage, such as the boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis), an insect that attacks the reproductive organs of the cotton plant. The boll weevil is blamed for destroying cotton plantations throughout Brazilian territory over the past decade.

Brazil, which was once a top exporter of cotton, thus became one of the world’s leading importers, and is just now beginning to see a recovery in its national cotton output.

Vilarinho pointed out that the case of this country is unique because it is so large (8.5 million square km) and because its biodiversity serves as the foundation for approximately half the gross domestic product (GDP). The concept of “exotic” cannot be limited to national borders, she added.

In a country this size, it is essential to establish internal controls to prevent pests in one area from migrating to other regions within national territory.

One example of the failure to impose such controls is the spread of witches broom disease (Crinipellis perniciosa), which devastated Brazil’s cocoa harvests. The fungus was transported from the Amazon jungles to the northeastern state of Bahía, the country’s leader in cocoa production.

Witches broom attacks the stems of the cocoa plant’s flower clumps, and then the fungus develops its own broom-like stems. It prevents the development of the cocoa beans, which are the raw material of chocolate.

As occurred with cotton, Brazil became a net importer of cocoa after years at the head of the list of leading cocoa producers and exporters.

A new threat stalking the northern Brazilian border is the “cochinilla rosada”, an insect that has already established a presence in French Guyana and causes damage to a wide variety of plants.

Internal borders have been established within Brazil designating which areas are free of different infestations, such as foot-and-mouth disease, which is a major threat to livestock. It has been successfully eradicated in some regions of the country, but is still present in others, cutting into beef exports.

Brazilian authorities are also attempting to prevent black sigatoka, a banana disease, from spreading from the Amazon region to other areas of the country.

Some states, such as Goiás in central Brazil, have adopted preventive measures, says Sheila Ribeiro, head of the pest control division at the Ministry of Agriculture.

“We are already working with disease-free and low incidence areas, and systems aimed at mitigating the risk of spread,” Ribeiro said. If Brazil can convince importing countries that the products are risk free, the internal borders represent one way of reducing export losses.

The countries of South America in general are short on inspectors responsible for preventing the entry of exotic species via border crossings, airports or seaports. Brazil, with its extensive borders, would have to at least triple the number of agents trained to perform that duty, says Ribeiro.

One of the biggest challenges arising from the introduction of these exotic “enemies” is that it is difficult to know from the outset if they will adapt to the local environment or how much damage they are capable of causing, commented the pest control expert.