National Pest Plant Accord
What is it?
The National Pest Plant Accord is a cooperative agreement, designed to prevent the spread of pest plants (weeds) by identifying a list of highly damaging pest plant species that are banned from sale, propagation and distribution throughout New Zealand.
The Accord, and the species on the Accord list, is a cooperative agreement between:
- New Zealand Plant Producers Incorporated (NZPPI)
- Unitary and regional councils around New Zealand
- Department of Conservation
- Ministry for Primary Industries.
All plants on the Accord list are unwanted organisms under the Biosecurity Act 1993. These plants cannot be sold, propagated or distributed in New Zealand.
It is used alongside other pest management strategies, such as the Northland Regional Pest and Marine Pathway Management Plan 2017-2027.
What plants are banned?
There are more than 200 pest plants listed under the Accord that cannot be sold, propagated (grown) or distributed in New Zealand.
The National Pest Plant Accord (NPPA) and the online plant list are available on the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Biosecurity New Zealand website. This website also outlines the process for the inclusion of new species on the Accord list, and an explanation of how the NPPA relates to other pest management strategies.
How did these plants become pests?
Most of these plants were either accidentally introduced to New Zealand or imported as garden plants. Since then, they have escaped from gardens naturally or have been spread deliberately to other sites. These plants now pose a significant problem – causing serious harm to our native environment and economic loss to producers of commercial crops.