SIG, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, has developed a CRB Operational Plan that provides a framework for coordination of response efforts. Current and planned support from Australia (PHAMA, the Strongim Bisnis program, the Solomon Islands Biosecurity Development Program and ACIAR), New Zealand (some through AgResearch and some facilitated by SPC), FAO, the EU, and the Philippines focuses on CRB surveillance and clean-up (including the destruction and removal of breeding sites like decaying logs to kill all life stages), disease studies, and awareness. More recently, the response has improved through coordination by the Australian and New Zealand-funded Pacific Horticultural and Agricultural Market Access program ( PHAMA), the establishment of a joint public and private sector CRB Taskforce, and support from various development partners. Immediate responses were hindered by the slow release of funds and a lack of coordination with the private sector. SIG declared a national CRB state of emergency through 2017 that remains in place.ĭead and affected coconut trees near Henderson, Honiara (Credit: Bob Macfarlane)Įradication is now impossible, so the focus of efforts by Biosecurity Solomon Islands is on management. GPPOL and some coconut processors have been particularly vocal around the scale of the threat to their operations and proactive in trialling management responses.

GPPOL, for example, estimate that CRB will cost their business SB$40 million (AU$6.7 million) by the end of next year, or around 15–30% of turnover. It is likely that CRB-G will soon reach other islands.Ĭontrary to the livelihoods threat from other invasive species such as the giant African snail, the Solomon Islands Government (SIG) is aware of the scale of the threat – probably given the potential for huge economic and social impact from reduced yields of palm oil, copra, and coconut oil. More recently, CRB-G has been recorded in the Russell Islands group, which is home to the largest coconut plantation in the Southern Hemisphere, South Malaita, and on Ulawa Island. Subsequently, CRB-G has spread along the north coast of Guadalcanal, to the nearby small island of Savo, the Ngella (Florida) grouping, and to North Malaita in perhaps the most serious outbreak beyond Guadalcanal. Symptoms of CRB-G attack were first reported in Honiara in January 2015. The CRB strain in Solomon Islands and elsewhere in the Pacific ( CRB-G) is resistant to the virus that was used to control a different strain of CRB in Fiji, Samoa and Tonga in the 1960s and 1970s (this strain, CRB-S, is also present in Western Solomon Islands). CRB also damages sago palm (important for housing), and the areca palm (the producer of betel nut, problematic from a health perspective, but also important for informal sector livelihoods in Solomon Islands). It also impacts oil palm, which is significant as the Guadalcanal Plains Palm Oil Company (GPPOL) employs around 1,500 people and contributes around 12% of national GDP. CRB is the most serious insect pest of coconuts, essential for food security and cash income, resulting in significant yield losses and tree mortality.

A new invasive strain of the coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB), Oryctes rhinoceros, is present in Solomon Islands and is spreading rapidly.

Guam coconut rhinoceros beetle