Contents

Overview
Outcome 1 - A world class biosecurity regime
Outcome 2 - A society that values healthy plants
Outcome 3 - A biosecure supply chain-Government and industry working in partnership to support a biosecure plant supply chain.  
Outcome 4 - An enhanced technical capability 
Full Document

Overview

The Plant Biosecurity Strategy for Great Britain (2023-2028) sets out the joint approach that Defra, the Scottish and Welsh Governments and the Forestry Commission will take to plant biosecurity for the next five years. It replaces the existing strategy published in 2014 and builds on the work in the 25-year Environment Plan chapter around enhancing biosecurity.  

The strategy has been developed in partnership with the Scottish and Welsh Governments, the Forestry Commission, and APHA.  

• It also has input from many of our key stakeholders (including industry, landowners, NGOs, the scientific community and the wider public), recognising that government cannot act alone.  
• We all have a collective responsibility to work together to protect our plants and trees.  
• The strategy sets out our key commitments from both the Government and the sector and our plans for the next five years for how we will work together to protect plant biosecurity in Great Britain.  

As @PlantChief Nicola Spence explains, The Plant Biosecurity Strategy for Great Britain will secure national biosecurity, protect native species and drive economic growth.

As Alan Titchmarsh explains, we need to protect our plants for future generations.

Our Plant Biosecurity Strategy for Great Britain will:

• secure plant health
• safeguard food security
• drive economic growth

Plants are a crucially important part of our economy, from agricultural and horticultural production, to timber, medicines, and wider co-benefits including for public wellbeing.

The health of our plants is of vital importance, but they are increasingly under threat from pests and diseases. Plant pests and diseases know no borders and, with the global trade in plants and plant products continuing to grow, our forests and plants are at risk across all sectors including agriculture, horticulture, and forestry. To feed the global population by 2050, agricultural production needs to rise by 60%, but 40% of all food crops are lost to plant pests each year.

Biosecurity is increasingly recognised not just as an important tool in the fight against climate change, but also in reducing poverty and hunger, and boosting economic development.

We all have a collective responsibility to protect plant health. This new GB Plant Biosecurity Strategy has been developed in partnership with industry, landowners, non-government organisations, the scientific community and the wider public.

It sets out joint commitments on how we are working together to protect plant biosecurity in Great Britain over the next 5 years.

The Plant biosecurity strategy sets out a new vision for plant health, building upon the work achieved under the previous 2014 strategy. We will work together to deliver our new vision for the next 5 years of plant biosecurity in Great Britain, which is:

“To protect Great Britain’s plants through a strong partnership of government, industry, and the public, working together to reduce and manage risks posed by plant pests and pathogens, and facilitate safe trade.”

To help achieve this vision we will work together to deliver an action plan over the next 5 years against the following 4 outcomes

Outcome 1- A world class biosecurity regime

Key actions in the strategy include.

• Further work to develop the UK Plant Health Risk Register to improve our understanding of complex and cumulative risks to plant health
• Work to develop a number of new plant health IT systems to support the needs of outbreak readiness, emergency response an information sharing. 

Outcome 2 - A society that values healthy plants

Key actions include.

• Work with 30 signatories (including Woodland Trust, and National Trust) of the new Public Engagement in Plant Health Accord to raise awareness of plant health across Great Britain.
• The accord, and action statements from individual organisations are included in the strategy.
• Further activities to support education and training on plant health. 
• Ongoing investment and support into citizen science projects and reporting tools. 

Outcome 3 - A biosecure supply chain-Government and industry working in partnership to support a biosecure plant supply chain.  

Key actions include.

• Work with the UK Plant Health Alliance to develop a new 5-year roadmap for the Plant Healthy certification scheme.
• Defra implementing a phased roll-out of a biosecure procurement requirement across government grants and contracts.
• Incentivising biosecure practices through the Environmental Land Management and other Future Farming schemes, to reduce the spread of pests and diseases.
• Enhance APHA’s Internet Trading Unit to increase monitoring of internet trading and social media sites and raise awareness of biosecurity requirements on these platforms.
• Ongoing work to support increasing domestic production

Outcome 4 - An enhanced technical capability 

Key actions include.

• Strengthening and enhancing the core research and surveillance programmes for plant health, including sustained investment in critical capability at, for example, SASA, the Forestry Commission, Fera Science Ltd and Forest Research.
• Defra will publish a new research priorities document in 2023.

Full Document

The full Plant Biosecurity Strategy is available from: Plant biosecurity strategy for Great Britain