Welcome to the North American Plant Protection Organization's (NAPPO) Phytosanitary Alert System!

The Phytosanitary Alert System (PAS) provides up-to-date information on plant pest situations of significance to North America. This system is intended to facilitate awareness, detection, prevention and management of exotic pest species in North America. The PAS provides this information in two ways: 1) Official Pest Reports 2) Emerging Pest Alerts

"Official Pest Reports" are provided by National Plant Protection Organizations of Canada, the United States, and Mexico. They serve as official communication from the country of origin and are intended to comply with the International Plant Protection Convention's Standard on Pest Reporting (ISPM 17: 2002).

"Emerging Pest Alerts" are news items obtained from public sources. They do not serve as official communication from NAPPO. The "Emerging Pest Alerts" is an early warning tool for emerging plant pests that are not present in the North American region. In most cases, information within alerts is not confirmed with the corresponding National Plant Protection Organization. They are provided solely as an early warning to NAPPO countries and should be used with this disclaimer in mind.

Free subscriptions are available for periodic email notifications of new postings to the website.

Purpose and Overview

The North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO), composed of the plant protection organizations of Canada, the United States, and Mexico was established in 1976 as a regional organization of the International Plant Protection Convention. NAPPO's mission is to protect the plant resources of North America against the introduction of plant pests while facilitating trade.

In the fight against the introduction of plant pests, it pays to know the enemy (i.e., insects, fungi, viruses, bacteria, weeds, etc.) that threaten to cross our borders, colonize, spread, and cause severe economic and/or environmental damage once they become established. In an effort to keep member countries informed of the ever-increasing threats posed by these pests, NAPPO developed the Phytosanitary Alert System or PAS.

First launched in April 2000, the PAS is a web-based notification system that provides a mechanism to share scientific intelligence about emerging plant pests that might pose a significant threat to North American agriculture, forests or natural habitats. The intent of the PAS is to facilitate awareness, detection, prevention and management of regulated plant pest species within North America. Information posted on the PAS is useful not just to plant protection organizations, but also to academic institutions and industries with an interest in safeguarding our borders from plant pest invasions.

Who

The PAS was designed and is maintained by a group of experts from each of the national plant protection organizations of the three NAPPO countries. Oversight, support, and translations are provided by the NAPPO Secretariat. For the latest list of PAS experts please visit http://www.nappo.org/english/directory/expert-groups.

How

The PAS provides member countries with a mechanism to provide timely official notification (i.e. Official Pest Reports) concerning outbreaks of a significant new plant pest within their country or to provide updates on regulated pests. These Official Pest Reports are intended to comply with the IPPC Standard on Pest Reporting (ISPM 17: 2002).

In addition to posting official notifications, expert group members gather, on a broad international scale, crucial intelligence about plant pests of importance to the NAPPO countries and disseminate that information through the website in the form of alerts (Emerging Pest Alerts). Pest information may come from any one of a variety of sources, including records from port of entry interceptions, domestic plant pest surveys, the internet, published literature (journals, newsletters, popular press), and submissions from users/readers.

To stay informed about significant plant pest threats to North America and to keep up-to-date with Official Pest Reports from the NAPPO member countries, readers are encouraged to take advantage of the free subscription for periodic email notifications about new postings on the website.