From then on, harmful organisms from abroad like “solidago canadensis” will be denied of its access to Shanghai. Shanghai is currently working hard to establish an early-warning system to prevent harmful organisms from damaging the city’s urban greening, together with a corresponding public information platform and a risk assessment system.

Statistics show that at present there are 39 harmful organisms from abroad in Shanghai, causing an annual economic loss of as high as RMB3 billion yuan to the city. These harmful insects have constituted serious damages to the city’s plants.

Last October, the Municipal Gardening Scientific Research Institute established a research group entitled “Urban Ecological Security Study” in an effort to research on the early-warning system and curbing technology for harmful organisms. It is said that the research group is developing a public information platform, which will realize the sharing of information of organism invasion by means of the Internet. After the platform is completed, effort will be made to develop a database of harmful organisms, to release important information about the early warning of the invasion of harmful organisms from abroad and the result of risk assessment, and to search through the Internet for the details of various kinds of harmful organisms, the development of research and the relevant laws and regulations.