Overview
Exposure to the pest is reduced by manipulating the habitat and making it less suitable for pests.
- Examples include controlling irrigation and eliminating shade over the commodity during the day to make the habitat less suitable to pests, or restricting artificial lighting that attract pests at night in production and packing facilities or ports of entry.
- Evaluating the efficacy of this measure requires demonstration that the habitat manipulation reduces pest abundance in production or post-production sites to the level required by the measure.
- Commercial practices that reduce habitat suitability may be considered when conducting and pest risk assessment. Habitat manipulation is rarely applied as a phytosanitary measure.
- Assurance can be achieved through inspections of the production or post-production facilities to audit compliance with the measure requirements.
Evidence to support efficacy
Evaluating the efficacy of this measure requires demonstrating that pest abundance in production or post-production sites remains below an acceptable level as a result of the habitat manipulation. Evidence may include survey information showing reduced pest abundance or survival under the modified habitat conditions, relative to unmodified habitat.
Applying the measure
How it is used
Practices such as climate control, managing free water and altering lighting can all affect habitat suitability (e.g. of greenhouses or storage facilities) or attractiveness (e.g. for dispersing insects around shipping or ports of entry). This can be considered in a pest risk assessment or, less commonly, applied as a phytosanitary measure.
Use with other measures
Habitat manipulation is rarely used as a phytosanitary measure. It could complement other measures aimed at reducing pest exposure such as pest management measures.
Similar measures
This measure is similar to hygiene measures that include managing alternative hosts, as both measures reduce risk by reducing the attractiveness of the habitat to pests. However, this measure is focused on manipulating environmental conditions.
Assurance of correct implementation
For assurance, physical inspections and audit by authorised personnel, with oversight by the NPPO or relevant authority of the exporting jurisdiction may be required, as well as records of temperature or humidity control (e.g. through environmental data loggers). In practice, surveillance and monitoring of pest population levels on-site (Low Pest Prevalence Site measure) and in the surrounding area (buffer zone measure) may also be required to verify that the pest prevalence is acceptably low.