SNP

Il faut se bouger......... les espagnols veulent actionner le programme ​LIFE http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/about/ pour financer de la communication,des nouveaux traitements y compris beauveria même des drones en détection ça parait plus intelligent . Ras le-bol des fonds reçus en catimini par les Alpes Maritimes et qui n’ont servi à rien, d’un département du Var incapable de déposer un dossier à temps ...... Il faut d’urgence reprendre l’initiative au conseil régional ou au conseil général du Var. SNP va prendre cet étendard. Nous lançons un appel solennel aux ministres de l’agriculture et de l’écologie.

Murcia government seeks European aid in fight against red palm weevil
Nearly a decade after the weevil spread to Murcia a Life project is proposed in Calblanque and Río Chícamo
Almost ten years after the presence of the destructive red palm weevil was first confirmed in the Region of Murcia, the regional government’s department of Agriculture has decided to request help from the European Union in combating the spread of the pest.
Murcia government seeks European aid in fight against red palm weevil
It has been announced this weekend that announced the regional ministry of Agriculture and Water is requesting that a “Life” project be set up in the palm and dwarf palm groves of the Río Chícamo area of Abanilla and the Calblanque, Monte de las Cenizas y Peña del Águila nature reserve in the municipality of Cartagena. Both of these areas form part of the Natura 2000 network.

There are reported to be over 25,000 palm trees in Río Chícamo, but this is the first time that help of this nature has been requested, despite the red palm weevil having been detected in the area as long ago as April 2009.

The aim of the Life project requested would be to investigate new, more effective formulas for treating trees against the red palm weevil, including detection via the use of drone technology, the involvement of local populations in detecting the weevil and preventing it from spreading, and the setting up of barriers consisting Murcia government seeks European aid in fight against red palm weevilof traps placed on tree trunks and fumigation based on weevil flight patterns. Similar strategies are proposed in both Río Chícamo and Calblanque.

It is believed that the red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) was introduced into Europe in imported palm trees, with the first reported instance in Spain being in the province of Granada in 1995 ( the building boom didn´t help as thousands of palm trees were shipped across from Egypt where picudo rojo is widespread to decorate residential urbanisations). By 2005 the insect was also present in Murcia, the Comunidad Valenciana and Catalunya, and it has since spread to the Canary and Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Aragón.

Within the Region of Murcia there are currently approximately 40 confirmed infestations, and the sight of dead and dying palm trees has become more and more common over the last decade, despite local and regional government attempts to halt the destruction, so this measure is somewhat akin to shutting the stable door when the horse is already half way down to the coast and comes way too late : if only something had been done eight years ago the spread could have been contained, but with thousands of trees harbouring picudo across the region, the chances of actually stopping it are very low. And this is not just a Murcia problem, picudo is widespread right along the Mediterranean coast.

Unfortunately there has been no ministerial financial aid to prevent the spread of the pest and the high costs of both preventative treatment and ongoing treatment once a tree is infested means that many owners have simply left their plants to die, then dumped them in the campo. The biggest problem has been treatment of trees in public places, as the economic crisis has meant that many councils simply haven´t been able to afford to pay for the chemicals and ongoing treatment : councils such as Murcia have thousands of palm trees in their public areas and parks and the cost of chemical treatment for all of them is simply too high, some councils such as Los Alcázares and Mazarrón just gave up and felled dozens of magnificent trees as they left it too late to treat them. There has been no proven means of preventing trees from becoming infested and a tree can be re-infested even once the picudo is successfully treated, although there is hope that fungal treatments pioneered by the University of Elche ( Beauveria Bassiana,) which has the largest Mediaeval palm grove system ( Palmeral) in Europe, have proven highly successful in the fight against picudo rojo.

Picudos continue to live in the trunks long after a tree has died and can fly up to 3 kilometres without stopping once they eventually leave the shelter of a dead tree, so controlling their spread has been impossible. Click for static info about the Red Palm Weevil, how to tell if your trees are infested and the options available.