A worldwide perspective of the legislation and regulations governing sentinel plants

Sentinel plants, plantsin exporting countries that are inspected at regular intervals for signs and symptoms of invertebrate pests and microbial pathogens, are a promising tool for detecting and identifying harmful organisms of woody plantsprior to their introduction into importing countries. Monitoring of sentinel plantsreveals crucial information for pest risk analyses and the development of mitigation measures. The establishment of sentinel plantsrequires the import and plantation of non- native plants, which may be affected by the laws, regulations and administrative procedures in the individual countries. To evaluate the feasibility of sentinel plantsas a global approach, this study aimed to summarise regulations and administrative procedures that affect the establishment of sentinel plantsusing non- native plantsin countries worldwide. Information about national regulations of import and plantingof non- native plantspecies was collected through a questionnaire survey, conducted among national representatives to the International Plant Protection Convention. Over 40 countries responded. The results show that legislations and regulations should not be major obstacles for a global use of the sentinel plantsapproach. However, the few existing experiences show that it can be complicated in practice. Here we describe the current state of art of the procedures that should be adopted to establish sentinel plantsand we propose a strategy to circumvent the shortcomings resulting from the lack of a specific regulation.