Prioritization of quarantine pest list for the Caribbean using a multi criteria decision approach

Abstract

Quarantine plant pests are socially, economically and environmentally important due to their impact on food security, human health, global trade, and crop production costs. The increase in global trade and tourism, frequent occurrence of natural disasters and climate changes have exacerbated the rate of entry, establishment and spread of plant pests regionally and globally. It has therefore become exigent to develop a list of pests of quarantine importance at the regional and national levels to prioritize and allocate limited available resources to manage the associated risks. In the present study, the Technical Committee on the Formulation and Prioritization of a Regional Priority Pest List for the Caribbean, in collaboration with the National Plant Protection Organization of the Caribbean countries and the United States Department of Agriculture - Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS), developed and prioritized a quarantine pest list using a multi-criteria decision-making approach.