Policy and legal framework for managing biosecurity

In terms of plant biosecurity management, the world has become smaller, this is evident in the reduced time as well as the increased speed, forms of transport and distance to transmit potential incursions. Borders between nation states are no longer seen as separators but more as the boundaries between the identities of different groups of people who nevertheless communicate with each other. Direct commu­nication between individual regions in different countries is frequent, even when communication between those same countries at an official level may be less frequent. Advancements in transport technologies have increased the movement of people and goods from one region to another. This movement brings along with it positive outcomes, such as trading in or sharing goods, information and services, but also negative outcomes such as the introduction of pests and diseases. The latter, of course, designates the focus of this chapter, which is on the policy and legal frameworks in which biosecurity currently rests. However, while policy and legal frameworks are potential facilitators of, or impediments to, effective national and international biosecurity, it is presently not understood what these are, who the originating bodies are, nor how policies at national, regional and local levels mesh (or not) to produce effective biosecurity management.