Under emergency scenarios, like locust outbreaks, stakeholders claim for fast solutions. Of course. However, efficient articulation of different research and development groups should be able to tackle problems framed at different time terms. Research is required to understand and/or predict how/when a pest could emerge and cause trouble. Whether the investment on R&D will return a benefit in terms of prediction power that significantly improves management compared to just allocating those resources to plain pest monitoring, is difficult to answer and requires a case by case assessment. My contention is that, at the very least, forecasting and other potentially useful methods should not be discarded without a rational analysis. On the other hand, what is for private monitoring consultants to gain with no public, open access pest forecasting services?

Chapter Pest monitoring and forecasting

Thanks Dr. Abbas. I appreciate your contribution to the discussion

Understanding factors that lead to outbreaks means that when such conditions occur extra resources can be put into monitoring. Such monitorIng allows early stages of the outbreak to be located and controlled as part of preventive management

Dear David, I absolutely agree with you. The criticisms I heard from private consultants were ill-intentioned. My rhetorical question is intended to gather a broader variety of answers nurtured by different experiences around the world. Thanks for you input.