Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Red Green

As part of their efforts to ensure a "green Olympics" in 2008, China is announcing an all-out campaign against an American moth invader. According to this report at China View, the government is determined to reduce the threat that the fall webworm (Hyphantria cunea) poses to trees in Beijing and surrounding areas. How are they going to do it? A lot of aerial spraying of pesticides, for starters. Not exactly green, though the wording of the article suggests they might be taking the concept too literally, in that they are concerned with the trees lacking green foliage and leaving them with a "brown" landscape. Fall webworms are efficient defoliators and while the damage is unsightly, it is typically not enough to kill the tree in a single season. The article does also mention that the government plans to use additional, more environmentally-friendly control methods, like pheremone traps, bug lights and two biological controls: American white moth virus and Chouioia cunea, a parasitic bee.

The ISW reported on the fall webworm invasion in China back in March 2004.

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