China and CABI have been successfully collaborating for decades, with China being an important Member Country of CABI since 1995. In 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) of China and CABI jointly started operating the European Laboratory at CABI’s centre in Switzerland.
The MARA China-CABI European Laboratory is affiliated with the MARA China-CABI Joint Laboratory for Biosafety, established in 2008, in Beijing at the Institute of Plant Protection (IPP) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS).
It aims to support collaboration by facilitating capacity building and exchanges of experts, providing a link between East Asia, Switzerland and other European countries. CABI and MARA scientists engage in research and development in agricultural science that sustains local and global influence, while helping to address critical challenges and achieve a greater reach of science-based solutions.
What does the MARA China-CABI European Laboratory offer?
- Effective collaboration on the prevention, containment, as well as biological and integrated management of invasive pest species
- Scientific and technological exchange and capacity building, including exchanges of experts, particularly young scientists
- Joint organization of symposia and conferences
- Cooperation with national or international agricultural bodies
Highlights and successes
- Secondments each year of one or more young scientists from China to the European Laboratory for a period of 3-4 months
- Advances in biosafety assessments on the biological control of invasive species, for example:
- the South American-origin invasive aquatic weed, parott's feather, in Europe and China using Lysathia cilliersae and Phytobius vestitus herbivores
- the Asian-origin box tree moth in Europe
- the American-origin fall armyworm with Trichogramma and other parasitoids
- A better understanding of the potential spread of invasive species caused by climate change
- Joint publications, for example:
The team and key contacts
The team consists of highly-skilled technical and international collaboration experts, including two Co-directors and two Secretaries.
Co-director of MARA CABI European Laboratory
CABI in Switzerland
Hariet Hinz, Global Director, Invasive Species
Co-director of MARA CABI European Laboratory
IPPCAAS in China
Jie Zhang, Professor/Deputy Director General
Co-secretary of MARA CABI European Laboratory
IPPCAAS in China
Fang Tian, Associate Professor/ Deputy Director, Division of Domestic and International Cooperation
Co-secretary of MARA CABI European Laboratory
CABI in Switzerland
Stefan Toepfer, Crop Health Advisor
Partners
The MARA China-CABI European Laboratory is linked to:
Teams at CABI
Chinese partners
- MARA China-CABI Joint Laboratory for Biosafety at IPPCAAS in Beijing
- Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (IPPCAAS)
- Shandong Academy of Sciences, and MARA-CABI subcenter
- Anhui Academy of Sciences, and MARA-CABI subcenter
- Grassland Research Institute, and MARA-CABI subcenter
- Yunan Agricultural University, and MARA-CABI subcenter
- and many others
Related Projects
Managing the invasive threat to Europe’s forests
Over the last few decades, European trees and forests have experienced dramatic losses caused by introduced non-native invasive pests and pathogens. As part of an international project, CABI is developing cost-effective and environmentally friendly tools for the prevention, detection and control of the invasive threats to Europes forests.
Biological control of the Spotted wing Drosophila – Drosophila suzukii
Drosophila suzukii Matsumura (Diptera: Drosophilidae), a fruit fly from East Asia, is now a serious economic pest of soft fruits and berries across Europe, the Americas and North Africa. In this project we are focusing on finding natural enemies (parasitoids) of the pest to introduce into Europe. This involves surveys for parasitoids where it originated and experiments in quarantine in Switzerland to investigate their taxonomy, performance and specificity.
Restoring grasslands of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
Halting and reversing land degradation is one of the biggest challenges to meeting the targets set by the Sustainable Development Goals. This project aims to assess the effects of grassland degradation on soil functions on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau and determine whether manipulation of plant functional diversity can accelerate the restoration of functioning of degraded soils.
