Leading nature charities, trade bodies and the Government have committed to improving public engagement with plant health and biosecurity in a major new agreement announced today (Monday 23 May) at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

The Public Engagement in Plant Health kickstarts a national conversation around biosecurity and promotes the actions that the public can take to protect tree and plant health.

Twenty-nine organisations are set to sign the Accord, including Defra, the Royal Horticultural Society, National Farmers Union, National Trust, Tree Council and Horticultural Trades Association – amounting to a total membership of over seven million people across the country.

The signatories will work together to raise public awareness of plant health.

The joint campaign will encourage plant lovers not to bring to bring home plants, trees, fruit and seeds from overseas, as doing so could inadvertently bring pests, diseases and invasive species into the UK, alongside an awareness campaign which will educate the public to buy plants, trees and seeds from responsible suppliers, and ensure everyone knows how to report sightings of pests and diseases.

Lord Benyon, Minister for Biosecurity, said:

This Accord will change the face of plant biosecurity in this country, with leading organisations from across society setting out a long-term shared vision for public engagement, awareness raising and behavioural change.

Safeguarding the health of our plants and trees will require people, the government and partners to work together as we strive to deliver on our ambitious tree planting targets and leave the environment in a better state than we found it, as outlined in our 25 Year Environment Plan.

Professor Alistair Griffiths, Director of Science and Collections at the Royal Horticultural Society, said:

The RHS believe that the collective actions of each and every one of our nation’s 30 million gardeners can play a pivotal role in protecting our tree and plant health, and natural environment.

We will continue to work with government, industry, and the wider public to safeguard and preserve our natural environment for generations to come.

Sarah Lom, CEO, The Tree Council, said:

We need everyone in Britain to become a tree health hero and take action to protect our trees and other plants. By making the right choices, we can ensure a healthy future for trees, from growing and nurturing, to protecting them from pests and diseases. The Tree Council is delighted to be a partner in this important Accord. The health of trees and plants affects everyone and so it is essential we work together if we are to safeguard the future.

Pippa Greenwood, Horticultural Manager, Horticultural Trades Association (HTA), said:

As the trade association which represents all parts of the garden industry supply chain, the HTA aims to continue to play a significant part in raising awareness and understanding of plant health and biosecurity along the length of that chain – from seed producer, through plant producer and retailer, to landscapers and the end user – the great gardening public! So, we are very pleased to support the Plant Health Accord.

The increasingly globalised plant trade along with climate change continue to present immediate and emerging threats to our biosecurity from pests and diseases. If introduced to the UK, pests and pathogens can cause serious and lasting harm to our biodiversity, farmlands, ecosystems and native species. Promoting positive behavioural change through public engagement is therefore necessary to safeguard the benefits trees and plants provide for society, the environment and the economy.

The 29 organisations which have signed the Accord will work closely to share best practice and research findings to ensure future plant health interventions are evidence-led and encourage behavioural change. They will also collaborate to develop new and innovative partnerships which will maximise the health and wellbeing benefits of our plants and trees.

The Public Engagement in Plant Health Accord has been announced today on the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s stand at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022. The theme of the stand this year is the long-running ‘Don’t Risk It!’ campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the risks of moving plants and associated pests through international travel.

Today’s announcement also comes ahead of the publication in summer this year of the new GB Plant Biosecurity Strategy, which will set out a biosecurity vision for the UK for the next five years. Building upon work achieved under the existing strategy published in 2014, the Strategy aims to deliver a step change in our plant health protections, actions and behaviours. The Public Engagement in Plant Health Accord will be published in full as part of this Strategy.

The public are being encouraged to count bees, butterflies and other pollinators as part of the latest drive to protect and increase these vital species launched today (Monday 23 May).

The free ‘FIT Count’ phone app – supported by Defra – will help track pollinator numbers and movements, providing crucial data that can be used to support pollinators in our natural environment. It could reveal previously unknown colonies of pollinators, where numbers are diminishing, or how populations are shifting in response to climate change.

It is part of a survey being co-ordinated by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. Their Flower-Insect Timed Count (FIT Count) survey asks people to spend 10 minutes a day collecting data on the number of insects that visit particular patches of flowers, including dandelion, buttercup and lavender.

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow made the call to action at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, alongside the launch of the government’s new Pollinator Action Plan (PAP), which sets out how government, beekeepers, conservation groups, farmers, researches, industry and the public can work together to help pollinators in England thrive. This will build on the progress of our world-leading Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (PoMS) established through the National Pollinator Strategy launched in 2014.

Pollinators are an essential part of our environment and play a crucial role in food production – they contribute the equivalent of more than £500 million a year to UK agriculture and food production, by improving crop quality and quantity – and are also vital to our wider, natural ecosystems.

Today’s announcement is part of the government’s drive to improve nature recovery and reverse declines in species, such as pollinators. The Pollinator Action Plan will support this, and support the delivery of the commitments in the Environment Act 2021, which requires legally-binding targets to be set to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030.

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said:

We all want to see an abundance of butterflies and bees in our gardens, parks and countryside. We are encouraging people to give just 10 minutes of their time to count the pollinating insects they see using this app to help us track their numbers and movements, and support our efforts to reverse the decline of these vital species.

I am very excited to be launching the latest Pollinator Action Plan at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, where the essential role of bees and pollinators are rightfully taking centre stage. It sets out a range of actions over the next few years to support these species, and is part of our wider drive to improve nature recovery and increase biodiversity through our world-leading Environment Act, and through a range of our new farming policies too, where restoring nature will complement food production.

The Pollinator Action Plan will focus a number of key areas, including:

• strengthening the evidence base to improve our understanding of trends and impacts on pollination;
• managing our land more effectively to encourage better connected habitat and recovered species;
• sustaining pollinator health of managed and wild populations’ by supporting beekeepers and bee farmers, ensuring there is surveillance of diseases and invasive species, as well as research and advice; and
• engaging the public though Bees’ Needs events, alongside celebrating successes and promoting a wide range of training.

Dr Claire Carvell, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), said:

FIT Counts are a great way for people to connect with nature. We would like to thank the hundreds of volunteers who have submitted more than 8,000 counts to the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme so far.

This data is helping us build a unique picture of the changing patterns of pollinator visits to flowers across the gardens and countryside of the UK.

Dr Chris Hartfield, Senior Regulatory Affairs Adviser, NFU Plant Health Unit, said:

The NFU has been involved with the National Pollinator Strategy since its inception and the strength of the strategy has always been how it has followed the science and evidence, and as part of this approach has established the world-leading pollinator monitoring scheme ‘PoMS’.

We look forward to continuing to help steer the work under the new Pollinator Action Plan.

Five simple actions everyone can take to help pollinators and make sure their populations are sustained include:

• Grow more flowers, shrubs and trees
• Let your garden grow wild
• Cut your grass less often
• Don’t disturb insect nest and hibernation spots
• Think carefully about whether to use pesticides

The Prime Minister spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia this morning to congratulate him on his election win at the weekend.

The Prime Minister told the new Australian leader that he wanted to congratulate him fulsomely on the big moment and said he looked forward to strengthening the UK – Australia relationship even further.

Prime Minister Albanese thanked the Prime Minister and noted that the UK and Australia had a strong and historic friendship, stemming from their close Commonwealth ties. The pair agreed that there was more that could be done together.

Both leaders agreed that there was strong alignment between their Governments’ joint agendas, spanning across global security, climate change and trade.

Discussing AUKUS, the leaders strongly agreed on its vital importance and the exciting opportunities it provided. The Prime Minister said he thought the trilateral grouping could go further together in other domains, where both countries could collaborate for the global good.

The pair also paid tribute to the extraordinary resistance of the Ukrainian people in the face of ruthless Russian aggression, and the Prime Minister thanked Australia for its principled position and strong support to Ukraine.

The leaders agreed that it was important that the war in Ukraine did not embolden other countries to undermine global stability.

The Prime Minister said that now was an important moment for democracies to stand together and prove their worth, and it was important that coercive autocracies were sent a message of strength and unity.

On trade, both leaders agreed the Free Trade Agreement was incredibly important to both countries going forward, as well as the UK’s accession to the CPTPP trade bloc.

The leaders agreed to stay in close touch, and hoped they would be able to meet in person soon.