About the Plant Health Risk Register
The NI Plant Health Risk Register is a tool for government, industry and stakeholders to prioritise action against pests and pathogens which threaten our crops, trees, gardens and countryside.
Watch the video below for information about the importance of maintaining plant health in Northern Ireland.
The United Kingdom is under increased threat from a wide range of plant diseases and pests. An important step in protecting our agriculture, horticulture, forestry and the wider environment is identifying these threats. Consequently, one of the key recommendations of the Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Expert Taskforce was to develop a prioritised UK Plant Health Risk Register.
The UK Plant Health Risk Register is a tool for government, industry and stakeholders (especially the public) to inform and help prioritise action against pests and diseases which threaten our crops, trees, gardens and countryside. In developing the overall UK prioritised register it is recognised that individual pests and diseases may be particularly significant in distinct geographic regions of the UK. With this in mind, DAERA have developed and maintain a local prioritised list (the Northern Ireland Plant Health Risk Register) in which plant diseases and pests are prioritised based on local Northern Ireland factors.
Plant pests not yet on the Risk Register may still be subject to plant health controls. The Plant Health Risk Register does not represent a comprehensive record of all pests of plant health concern, it is an evolving document to which more pests are being added and re-prioritised every month.
The Northern Ireland Plant Health Risk Register gives details of over 900 pest and disease species currently of concern. They are rated in order of current threat levels and the list is updated on a monthly basis.