The Australian Plague Locust Commission (APLC) is a joint venture of the Australian Government and the member states of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland, created in 1974 to manage outbreaks of the
Australian plague locust,
spur-throated locust and
migratory locust in eastern
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
.
With 19 staff members at its headquarters in
Canberra
Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
and field offices in
Narromine
Narromine (Help:IPA/English, /næroʊmaɪn/) is a rural Australian town located approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) west of Dubbo in the Orana, New South Wales, Orana region of New South Wales. The town is at the centre of Narromine Shire. ...
,
Broken Hill
Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...
and
Longreach
Longreach is a rural town and locality in the Longreach Region, Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre of the Longreach Regional Council, which was established in 2008 as a merger of the former Longreach, Ilfracombe, and I ...
, it is jointly funded by the Commonwealth government and by the Australian states of
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
,
Victoria,
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
and
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
.
Activities
The APLC conducts regular surveys of locust populations and migrations and carries out control of locust outbreaks by means of aerial application of
pesticide
Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all p ...
s;
traditionally these were chemicals, but more recently APLC has been a major contributor to the development of a
biological pesticide
A biopesticide is a biological substance or organism that damages, kills, or repels organisms seens as pests. Biological pest management intervention involves predatory, parasitic, or chemical relationships.
They are obtained from organisms incl ...
in collaboration with
CSIRO
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications.
CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...
and
LUBILOSA
LUBILOSA was the name of a research program management, programme that aimed at developing biological pest control, a biological alternative to the insecticide, chemical control of locusts. This name is an acronym of the French language, French ti ...
scientists. It also conducts educational outreach and training courses for landowners, businesses, and local governments, including international consulting work in
Asia
Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
,
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
and
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
.
Responsibility to control limited outbreaks of the pest species resides with the states. The APLC undertakes and coordinates activities when species migrate or have the potential to migrate across state borders and subsequently cause damage to agriculture in more than one of the member states.
The establishment of the APLC allowed for the first use of
remotely sensed data to forecast locust populations in Australia.
In 2010, the APLC together with the states identified the potential for a significant infestation of the Australian plague locust. A coordinated effort to minimise damage was undertaken. It was estimated the activities resulted in a saving of $963 million from the expenditure of $50 million.
See also
*
Agriculture in Australia
Although Australia is mostly arid, the nation is a major agricultural producer and exporter, with around 421,000 people employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing as of 2023. Agriculture's farm gate output was $100 billion a year for a 5.7% ...
References
External links
Australian Plague Locust Commission*
Commonwealth Government agencies of Australia
Locust swarms
1974 establishments in Australia
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