Phosphine: no easy way out of timber industry’s phytosanitary bind

Fumigation is an essential tool for the protection of commodities in transit and storage from the threat posed by domestic and invasive pests. Globalisation of the world economy, coupled with a warming climate, means this is an ever-increasing risk for global supply chains, and one that the phytosanitary industry must address dynamically. It is a risk which is especially acute for the timber and forestry sector, with products such as sawn timber acting as a major pathway for these pests which have potential to devastate local biodiversity.