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regulated codes of conduct for nursery professionals, government agencies, the gardening public specii-
cally garden clubs, landscape architects, and botanic gardensarboreta, designed to stop use and distribution
of invasive plant species. Working with these respec- tive industries, the process has generally appealed to
the responsible use and import of horticultural prod- ucts by the private sector to minimize the introduction
of IAS. There is an urgent need for the IPPC to more effectively address, perhaps through a quarantinesteri-
lization-based international sanitary and phytosanitary measure ISPM based the problem of “hitchhikers”
on horticultural products, which are potential IAS, but may not be considered plant pests per se e.g., spiders,
ants. • FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. This
code includes a section encouraging the use of legal and administrative frameworks to promote responsi-
ble aquaculture, including discussions with neighbor- ing states prior to the introduction of nonindigenous
species, minimizing the impacts of nonindigenous or genetically altered ish stocks, as well as minimizing
any adverse genetic or disease impacts. While the Code serves as a useful guide, it is not focused on speciic pre-
vention, management and control measures related to IAS within the ield of aquaculture and isheries.
Given the role of trade in the production and transport of goods, approaches to regulating pathways of IAS should
consider relevant trade rules and agreements. The World Trade Organization’s WTO Agreement on Sanitary and
Phytosanitary Measures SPS Agreement deines the basic rights and obligations of WTO members regarding use of
sanitary and phytosanitary measures to protect human, ani- mal or plant life or health from the entry, establishment or
spread of pests, diseases, disease carrying organisms; and prevent or limit other damage from the entry, establishment
or spread of pests see 7.3.3 for details.
7.1.3.2 Genetic resources and agrobiodiversity
Three major types of policy tools are available to support conservation of genetic resources 1 public investment in in
situ and ex situ conservation; 2 clearer intellectual prop- erty rights, including for farmer innovations, particularly in
developing countries; and 3 material transfer agreements Rubenstein et al., 2005. Apart from ecological approaches
to agriculture, connected to nature management, strategies for conservation and sustainable use of agricultural genetic
resources also include “ex situ” and “in situ, on farm” ap- proaches. Ex situ conservation in gene banks is well estab-
lished for major crops under the auspices of the FAO by the centers of the CGIAR, and at national plant and farm
animal gene banks. A Global Crop Diversity Trust has re- cently been initiated to generate funds for the sustainable
conservation of the most important collections worldwide, on behalf of all future generations, and Norway is hosting
a long-term conservation facility in the Arctic at Svalbard. Public policies converged progressively through the Inter-
national Undertaking 1985 to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture IT
PGRFA – 2005 providing special rules for the conservation without subsidies. In countries where these subsidies have
been introduced the key policy challenge is to improve cost effectiveness through competitive bidding; environmental
cost-beneit analysis; and performance-based payments for farmers to remove environmentally sensitive land from crop
production. Pests. Invasive alien species IAS are a threat to global bio-
diversity and can have devastating effects on both agricul- tural and natural systems at large scales after small isolated
introductions. A major policy challenge from IAS is the fact that the vast majority of current and future IAS were ei-
ther poorly known species, or were unknown as pests be- fore their introduction to a new location. This is the main
reason for the failure of past policies to deal with IAS, even those using the best available risk assessment methodologies
Keller et al., 2007. Future IAS policies should be based on the following
principles in order to mitigate this weakness. • National IAS systems should be linked to regional and
global databases of known IAS and their treatment. • IAS control systems should be based on a “pathways of
entry” approach where detection and control effort is focused on the most likely points of entry into a country
or region. Introductions of IAS occur through various channels or pathways, both intentionally and uninten-
tionally. Primary pathways of intentional introduction of potential IAS include horticultural products, food
products, and exotic pets, the use of nonnative organ- isms in aquaculture and for restocking of marine and
inland water systems for commercial and recreational isheries; scientiic research; horticulture; trade in pets
and aquarium species; biocontrol agents; and ex situ breeding projects. Pathways of unintentional intro-
ductions include ballast water and ballast sediments, ship hulls, packaging materials and cargo containers,
garbage and waste, international assistance programs; tourism; military activities, and unprocessed materials,
such as timber. • Risks posed by pathways of IAS prior to introduction
and establishment should be addressed and mitigated both before the IAS reach the border and at the bor-
der. Preventing introductions before they occur is the most effective and cost-eficient approach to addressing
IAS issues. Removing IAS once they have become estab- lished requires signiicantly more inancial, technical,
and personnel resources than preventing their introduc- tion; and, often, complete removal is not even possible.
• An operating principle of the system should be that it is based on a list of approved species for deliberate in-
troduction, and that any species not on the list must pass through a risk assessment process before being ap-
proved for entry. A number of policy initiatives have been undertaken for
speciic major pathways of introduction including:
• Importation of living plants and plant material. Many
attempts are being made to address plant-related path- ways of invasive species. One voluntary initiative, based
on the Missouri Botanic Garden St. Louis Declaration, is developing and implementing self-governed and self-
