Report of the fifth meeting of ecological panel: September 2-3, 1976 New York

1i I \ \ \ \, Ncv . u, t)?6 n a \r ONCTIOCERCIASIS CONTROL PROGRAI'1}'18 ln the VOLTA RIVER BASIN AREA REPORT of the FIFTII MEETING ECOLOGICAT PANEL September 2-3, L976 NEW YORK 1 t I\ nREPOII.T of the FIFTH I,IEETING ECOLOGICAL PAI{EL ONCHOCERCIASIS CONTROL PROGRA},II-IE in the VOLTA RIVER BASIN AREA New York, Sep tenber 2-3, L976 Proceedings The meetlng of the Ecol.oglcal Panel was qonvened by Dr. Jamee A. Lee of the World Bank Group who also chalred the neet,tng. Soue chaogee ln rnember- shlp had occurred since the Last, meettug becauee of the operatton of the two- year reElrement rule. Membere'and observers Present are ehown ln Annex I. The Chalrman welcoued the delegates and expreeaed pleasure thaE a full complement was preaent, lncludlng Dr. P.G. Janseens' Chairman of OCPrs Sclentlflc and Technlcal Advleory Comtttee (STAC), plus new members, Profeesor Hynes of Canada and Dr. Vandemaele, Eemporarily re?resentlng UNDP. The Chalrman also welcomed Mr.:G. Pennacchlo, a rnember of the OCP Steerlng Commlttee, who attended as an obeerver, Mr. J.F. Wal"ch, Fleld Entonologlst of OCP, and }tr. D. Marr of 'the OCP Secretartat'. The agenda (Annex II), prepared by the Chalroan, was adopted at the neet,lng. A number of technlcal documents were dletrlbuted to membere. IE was agreed that the mlnutes of the neetlng would be prepared Jolntly by Dr. Snlth'and Dr. Lee. Dr. Jansaens auggested that a nun6irlng syatetr ehould be ueed on all EP documenEe. The Chalroau announced that thls would be hte flnal neetlng wlth the EP as the pressure of dutles made lt necesaary for hlm Eo leave after two and one-half years as lta Convenor. Revlew of Panelrs Terms of Reference The t,erms of reference were read by merobers and some dlscueslon followed. Dr. Hynes (new member) thought that the terms of reference rrere somewhaE vague. Old members referred to the recenL Jolnt ueettng ln Geneva wlth STAC vhen questlons of overlap between EP and STAC had been dlecuesed at lengEh and fLnal agreement had been reached that, although there nay be an overlap of Lnterest between the two bodles, thLs would noE necessarily result ln a duplicatl-on of effort. The Joint meetlng considered that there would be a greater rlsk of dupllcaElon betweeu EP and the Econonlc Develop- ment Advlsory Panel (EDAP), tn partlcular wlth regard Co soclo-econoulc development. Mr. PennacchLo mentLoned that the recently formed EDAP had held lts first treettng ln Geneva ln June and that che nlnutee of this meetlng should be nade avallable to EP aa Eoon as poselble. a -2- /^ n Revlew of Panelrs Past Actlvltles Dr. Lee reviewed at lengEh the past actlvlEles of the EPr. partl- cularly for the beneflt of new members. He stressed that durlng Ehe flrst Ewo years the nain effort, of the EP had been on the btologJ.cal monltorlng aspect,s set out ln paragraph (a) of the terms of reference. Envlronmental monltoring advlce and nodlficaElons to OCP speclflcaEions had, ln general, been accepted by OCP and had been of great usefulnese to t,he Programme. Mr. Marr polnEed out that the monltoring ls cartled out lndependently of the spraylng operat,l-one and that most EP recommendatlons have been met where possible. Dr. Worthington ralsed Ehe natter of water Banagement and control as a long term means of locallslng and controlllng SlmuLLum damnosuo and at, the same t,1me enhanclng the opportunltles for land settl-ement and agrlcul- tural producElon ln the rtver valleys. Study of these poselbllltlee had been recoronended by EP fron lts flrst treetlng onward, but, eo far had r.e- celved llttle response wlthln the OCP. With regard to land settlemenE as- pects whlch are fundamental to ecologlcal conslderatlons and advlce, the Chalrman lndlcated that Dr. Smlthts recent vlslt to Ehe OCP -areae had pro- vlded the only factual l-nformation yet, avallable to the EP on land settle- menE plans and strategles ln Ghana, Upper Volta and Ivory CoasE. Dr. Smith then ouEllned ln detall aspects of h1s fteld Erlp, report.s of whlch had already been read by the Panel. He atressed that we are ln the early stages of an onchocercLasls control program and a related economlc development program whlch ls expected to be spread over a 2O-year perlod. .The OCP ls opllmlstlc about the early resulEs and predlcte that Phase I lands ruay soon be glven the all-clear for falrly incenslve land set,t,lement proJects. It ls expected that Phase II and Phase III lands wtll slmllarly be given the all-c1ear as the OCP contlnues lcs scheduled program. There ls certalnly an urgent need now to carry out. the planning phase for the economlc developurent of rlveraln lands spread among nearly 700,000 kmz ln the seven West Afrlcan counErLes of Dahomey, Ghana, Ivory Coaet,, MaIl, Nlger, Togo and Upper Volta (sec FAO/IBRD Report of October 1975). The need for evaluattng naEural resources and understandlng the soclo-economlc condlt,lons ls just as urgenE for sparsely populated Partg of Northern Ghana as lt ls for Ehe populous Northern Reglon of Ivory Coast. The eomplexlty of the sltuaElon can be eeen ln the Ivory Coastrs flve-year program of resettlement for the reglon of the rlvers, Bandama, B1anc and Bou, sout,h of Korhogo. Thls wtll be the first'real example of reset,t,Iement of an area whlch was completely.fleserEed because of the onchocerclasls probLem. Proposed agro-lndustrles lnclude the construcElon of a tomaEo past,e factory, the development of a cattle ranch uslng dlsease-reslsEant stock from South Afrlca and the establlshment of market gardenlng. The people who w111 move lnlo Ehls area wlLl be volunteers; those who have no land and want to become vrage earners ln the new area. A requesE ls belng formulated for UNDP help ln planning thle resettlemenE proJect and tt ls hoped that Ehe request w111 be met. J-3- Proposed land settlement areas tn Upper Volta are on lands that vrere not completely depopulaEed; some pockets of populatlon remalned to cultlvate patches of riveraln land and to Llve wlth the dlseaee. Neverthe- less, lf the land ls to be more lntensLvely developed, uslng modern lnputs, then a blg lncrease ln farnlng popuLatLons ls requlred and some lnflow of peoples w111 occur. Thls w111 requlre careful plannlng and regulatlon of the populatlon movements. Dr. Smlth noted that the OCP places great emphasls, perhaps, overemphasts, on the resettlement of rlveral-n lands after clearance of oncho- cerclasls and the economlc beneflts arlslng from the redevelopment of theselands. A parallel argunent states that pJ"ateau lands are overpop_ulated and the solls degraded and that economLc beneflts w111 be derlved from the trans-fer of populaElon from plateau to rlveraln land. In many placee vl.eited thls generallzatlon is cerEalnly not valtd; many upland areaa have supertor solls to the lmperfectly dralned rlveraln lands. WlEh a good program of lmproved seeds, crop lntroductlons, crop protectlon, reasonably prLced fer- tlllzere'and agrlculEural credlEs, the uplands could be developed t,o anlntenslty comparable to the developed rlveraln lands. Members of the EP were pleased to recelve some factual lnformatlon on land setELement st,rat,egles and those who had vielEed the OCP area were ingeneral agreement wlth Dr. Smtthrs assessnent of the envlronment and lts de- velopment posstblllt,les. A11 Panel members were ln agreement, that, lf the EP ls to offer advlce on socio-economLc aspects of land set.t1ement,, then lt must, be kept up to date on developments wlthln the OCP areas. Fu1I Revlew of OCP Operatlonal Actlvltles l'1r. Walsh, assLsted by l(r. Marr, revLewed the operat,lonal actlvt- tles of the 0CP. CerEaln graphs and tables were clrculated to the Panel members. Mr. Walsh gave an outllne of the aerlal control actlvltlee slnce Ehe beglnnlng of the ProgrErmme. In general, slnce February 1975 the aerlaL IarvLcldlng program had proceeded wlthout a hltch. In certain areae, €rg.1 Bandama, Blanc, weekly treatnents had been undertaken from February 1975 to date, whereas ln othersr e.8., Northern and Central Reaches of the Black Volta, the absence of flles had enabled the VCU to cease lts larvlcidtng operatlons for perlods of up to twelve weeks at a tLme Data for Samendent Pont on the Black Volta r^/ere presented. At thls slEe IE was consLdered hf$hly llke1y t,hat controL had completely lnter- rupted transmlsslon of Onchocerca volvuIus. Desplte the cessatlon of control over long periods, slmllar results had been obtalned in the whole of the Banfora escarpment area. Data presen- ted for the Central Reaches of the Black Volta also lndlcated a saEisfactory stat,e of affalrs (Naberd Radler, Dl6bougou Pont, Mombello) wlth transmtssion almost certalnly reduced to a low leveL. Agaln lt had been posslble tolnterrupt control actlvltles ln thls area. F- Err#"-;l-r:ffi -n -4 In the southern parts of the Black Volta valley, which lncludes the very large Bul Raplds system extendlng for over 80 kE, controL had proved more dlfflcult. Although the bttlng rate had been reduced by. over 7014, Eransml-ssl-on was certalnly stlLl occurring at Cache. In Ehe Comoe valIey results had been very saElsfactory excePt ln the Leraba Bridge area where relnvaslon had taken place ln the wet seasons of boch 1975 and L976. Thls also applled to the Bandama valley. In the relnvaded zones, flles were vlrtually conflned to the frlnglng rlparlan forest,; neverEheless, ln thls llnlted area transmlsslon wae stLLl at a very hlgh level. The relnvaded area ls, however, a small proportlon of the whole cont,rol zone. Relnvaslon Studles It was explalned thaE followlng the retnvaslon of certain areas durlng the 1975 weE seaaon a detalled progran of research was establlshed for the 1976 season should relnvaslon recur. In the event,relnvaslon occur- red ln 1976 at roughly the same tlnes and places as ln 1975. Detalled ln- vesrlgatlons lncluded (1)'fly caEchlng dally at elght sltes {n the Bandama(I) and ln the Leraba Brldge (II) areas; (11) careful dlssect,lon of caught, fltes for agelng and parasltologlcal studles; (111) bree<llng of wtld caught ftles to obtaln larvae for cytotaxonomlc ldentificatlon; (tv) PreservaElon of materlal for X-ray Fluorescent Spectroscopy studles; (v) deralled sEudles of the classlcal taxonooy of lnvadlng flles; (vl) numerlcal taxonomlc studles;(vll) experlmental cont,rol of a sugpected source area; (v111) aerial trapplng and wlnd-fleld studies. In general, the results of lnvestlgatlons proved to be hlghLy satlsfacEory. Dal-ly catches ln areas I and tI ehowed very slmllar patterns' and catchlng polnts L70 k^m apart registered slniLar fluctuattons ln popula- tlone. Dissectlons lndlcated that mosE, lf not all, lnvadlng fLles were old. Breedlng experiments conducted by Dr. J.N. Raybould (OCP staff member) were exEremely successful. Cytotaxonomlc studles of the materfC\.Eh,uq pF- ralned by Dr. C. Vajfuoe (OCP staff rnember) and Dr. Quilldvdrd (J*;.tfdant), showed EhaE Ehe lnvading fllee were all of the savannah cyt,otypes ilNlle[ and "Slrba". Large quantl-tles of materlal were speclally preserved for XFS sEudles, Ehe results of whlch are no! yet to hand. Detailed'studles of clas- elcal Eaxonomy and detalled measurements of lnvadlng flles by Drs. Qu1116v6r6 and Garms (coneultanEf) ylelded very valuable lnformatlon corroboratlng Ehe cytoEaxonomic results of Dr. VaJime. An experlmental cont,rol scheme on the Sout,hern Bandama was exceptlonal-Iy successful wlthin the area lnvolved and fly numbers remalned at a very low level for, at least, slx weeks after the cessat,lon of the experLuent. However, Ehere waa no measurable resul-t ln the OCP area. SubsequenE evidence lndlcated that the cyEotyPe ln the experlmental conErol area was "Bandana". Aerlal trapplng and wlnd-fleld studLes uslng Doppler Radar equlpment were under way at the tlme of the rneetlng. n r --- , . .I':.- . 1| -5- n From these lnveetlgat,lons lE 16 fatrly clear that Ehe lnvadlng cyEotyPes are of savannah and not, forest orlgln. It ls probable that re- lnvaded Areas I and II are affected by the sarue source of flles and. that the movement of these flles ls lnfLueneed by meteorologlcal factors. As t.he Phase II cont.rol, has proved ao successful , and as large S. d 6umpopulatlons ln uncont,rolled areaa to the east have noE moved westwa-rds lnEo Ghana, lt seems llkely that the lnvadlng flles ln Phase I are movlng from west,erly areas. Prellmlnary result,s of the wlnd-fleld sEudles indlcated thatdurlng the relnvaslon perlod the wind track, although predomlnantly fron the south-west (the Monsoon), shlfted on several occaslons Eo dregt or northwest. Ae*earr.'be-eeert{ro6:rBh-dfufiip, 6ne of the invadlng cytotypes, "Slrbar" 18 widely dlstributed to the irest of the naJor lnvaded areas. control of Phase rrr west may ellminate the problen or, at, least, con- elderably reduce the relnvaslonr' eepeclal-ly.-of ' the--very-mlnor areaa, III-V-: If relnvaslon of areas I and II agaln occurs 1n 1977, an experl- mental control ln the Sassandra and Marahoue valleys to Ehe sout,hwest, of Korhogo, for a period of about slx weeks, mlght provlde valuabLe lnforma- tlon. The Nzl valley w111, l-n any case, be under control La L977 as lt,ls t,o be the slt,e of the large scale fleld trlal of Chlorphoxlrn. The need to conclnue blol-ogical invesElgatlons lnto all aspects of S. damnosum blo- logy was stressed wlth parElcular enphasLs on cytotype det,ernLnatlon anddlstrlbutlon mapplng whlch should not be narrowly conflned to the OCP area. The Control Programme, as suggested ln the PAG Mlsslon Reports, should be.adhered Eo untll, at Ieast, after one complete year of Phase III operatlon. At t,hat tlme the Lessons of t,he operatlons so far undertaken could be asslnllated and recormendatlons concernlng Ehe scale of fut,ure actlvltles made. The Panel corunented that the nlgratory hablts of Stmullum damnosum requ1refurtherstudyandthatmoreent'ono1og1stsshou1dueffi OCP staff to lnvestlgate thls and oEher aspects of blackfly ecology. Constderatlon of OCPrs Future ActlvlEles The OCPrs progranr of blological monltorlng was revlewed. Prof. Hynes sEaEed that Z4-hour sampllng of an untreated rlver at speclfled ln- tervals Ls necessary to refute clalms that the lnsect,iclde has caused damage to the aquaElc envlronment. He suggested that the OCP shouLd htre a blo-loglst to do thls work lf the present teams could not do lt. The questlon was asked whether the surplus hellcopters, avallable Ln December when two contracEors would be operat,tng, could not be ueed to take blologlcal sam-ples from rivers ln the unEreaEed Phase III area. !1r. Marr raised the polnt about the use of Chlorphoxlm ln place of Abate. He dlstributed a repor! recently reproduced of smalL scaletrials of these lnsectlcides. Small scale trLaLs suggest that Chlorphoxlm may be more t,oxic to non-target organlsms than Abate. n *' #.---r -,J' .I:ri*r+ rs,tgtlrjE*;k I --6- ,,\ r\ Professor Hynes conslders that, an effort should be made to pro- duce an lnsect,lclde speclflcally to kl1l larvae of Stmullum damnosumlpreferab1yasastomachpolson.Itshou1dbemadeffi about 10 mlcrons dl-amet,er to sult the feedlng hablts of Slmullum larvae. The partlcles should have a density to enable them to froiffiater and so reach the larvae. One danger ls that the partlcles pass through thegut very qulckly and emerge aa a larger partlcl.e about, 80-100 mtcrons 1n dlameter whlch may be swallowed by other aquatlc organisms. Dr. Lee asked whether flsh catches have dlmlnlshed slnce spray-lng operatLons etarted. Meeers. Marr and Waleh reported that no 111 effects have been noted on flsh up to the present. [1r. Marr polnted out that the sltuat,lon l-s compllcaEed by the fact that locaI flshermen tradltlonally use flsh polsons to catch flsh. Woree 8t111, nylon mosqulto nets whlch are very reslst,ant to decay are ubed to catch fry and thls could have a dls- astrous long-t,erm effect on flsh numbers. Dr. Worthtngton suggesEed that even lf t,he lnsectlclde is not directly affectlng fLsh nurnbers lt could do eo lndlrecEJ.y through reduclng nunbers of organlsms that provlde food forflsh. The Ecoloelcal Panelts Fu t,ure Activit,les Dr. Janssens consl-dered that the Panel members should stimulate research on the spoE by vlsltlng the proJect area and discusslng problens wlth the overworked Local sctentiets. Dr. Vandemaele coneldered that Ehe Ecologlcal Panel should obtain more lnform.lt,lon on t,he nature and scope of current and planned land develop- ment and waEer mrnagement schemes ln the onchocerclaels cleared areas, so agto enable the Pane1 t,o assess the ecologlcal lmpllcatlone of such schemes. The Panel noulnated Dr. Snlth or Dr. Vandenaele or the Latterts successor as rePresentatlve to EDAP and appolnted Dr. Worthlngton as the Ecologlcal Panelts representatlve to the flrst Beetlng of STAC ln Geneva on Novenbet 2, L976, and thereafter, Professor Hynes. Dr. Worthlngton suggested that the Ecological Panel attempt Eo make a proJectlon 20 years ahead on land and water use ln the OCP area, assuming a rnarked populatlon lncrease and greater irrlgat,Lon. He stressed the point chat hurnan ecologlcal changes would, iu turn, alEer the envlron- ment,; thus, the need t,o take a nld- to long-teru look to ensure that ecouo- nlc developEent paEterns would Dgt prove preJudlclal to vltal ecologleal systems and soclal well-beiug. Future Vlslts to OCP Area The Panel recor'r.euded the followlng vlsLts to the proJect area: Spraylng operatlons -- Dr. Vandenaele or successor, March-AprLL L977. 1 *----..-+-*r --'t - z 3 4 Aquatlc monltorLng -- Professor Hynes ln dry season, Aprll-May L977. Land settlement aspects -- Dr. Worthlngton and Dr. Smlth at, end of wet season, October L977. Assessoent of OCP by fulJ. Panel ln April 1978. of Ecological PanelNext Meet,lne /^ Jolut meetlng lrlth STAC and lndependent, treetlngs of EP at, Geneva on Match L-3, L977 Ocher BusLness Mr. Pennacchlo suggested chat the dates of all neettnge connected with OCP should be clrcuLat,ed one year ln advance. The Panel supporEed thls suggest lon. The Chairuan th'auked l(r. Pennacchlo for arranging to host the meet-lng of Ehe EP. He thanked the ,IINDP secretarlal staff for provldlng cof fee, and Mr. Pennacchlo for the socLal hour. Dr. Lee also thanked Mr. pennacchlofor hls full-Elme attendance at the EP ueetlng. Mr. Pennacchlo tndlcated the meetlng proved roost enll-ghtenlng and wouLd aeslsE hls work as a qenber of the Steerlng ComroltEee. The Panel members thanked Dr. Lee for hls servlce as Convenor of Ehe Panel, At t,achment,s IBRD Novenber LL, L976 ^ $- III aName :tGordon llavord H.B.N. Hynes Pleter G. Janssens (STAC Chalrroan) James A. Lee ^ tt*J. Douglaa !1. Marr *G. Pennacchlo Robert Smlth 0ff Lcer-In-Charge Technlcal AdvlsorY Dlvlslon, UNDP Professor, Dept. of Blology, Universlt,Y of WaEerloo ,' Ontar 1o Canada, (lHo) Dtrector, InsElEute Troptcal MedLclne, A}.ITWERP Dlrector, Offlce of Envlroirmental and Health Affalrs, World Bank Entooologlst/ Blologlet, WtlO Chlef, West Afrlca Bureau, IIMP Dtrector, Agrlcultural Research and Tralnlng FAO AI{NEX I TeI.No. (2L2)7s4-4762 (519) 885-1211 Home: 885-4708 Antwerp 53-66-24 (202)477 -6LsL Geneva 34-60-61 Ext. 2588 Dublln 909056 (2L2)7 s4-47 sL Chelwood Gate ONCHOCERCIASIS CONTROL PROGRAMME IN THE VOLTA RIVER BASIN AREA Flfth lleetlng of the ECOTOGICAL PA}IEL New York, Septernber 2-3, L976 TlrLe Cable Address /^ t]NDEVPRO NEW YORK }TETROPICAL ANTWERP INTBAFRAD WASIIINGTON UNISANTE GENEVA FOODAGRI TAIZ, YAR Frank P. Vandemaele Senior Technlcal Advlser, IIMP ***J. Frank WaLsh Entonologtst/OCP E. Barton Worthlngton Consultant, UNEP *Observer **OCP Secretarlat U].IDEVPRO NEW YORK ONCHO OUAGADOUGOU Upper Volta BIOLOGPRO LONDON ***ocP o ns 322 (lingland) LlsE of Partlcipants e ANNEX II Page I /^ ^ 1000 1015 1030 1100 1130 1300 14 30 1600 17 30 EC0LOGICIrL PANEL TO ONCHOCERCIASIS CONTROL PROGRAI'{ME . },IEETING September 2-3, L976 - New York AGENDA Thureday, SepEenber 2 Welcome IntroductLon and Announcetrentg Dr. J. A. Lee The l.Iorld Bank Adoptlon of Agenda SeLectLon of Rapport,eur Dlscusslon Luncheon Full Revlew of OCP Operatlonal Actlvlties: PasE, Present and Fut,ure Environmental Monltortng, etc. Dlecusslon AdJ o.urn ffirffi6r Revtew of Panelrs Terms of Reference Rey.lew gF Panelrs PasE Actlvltles .t ANNEX II Page 2 ra Frlday, Se.ptember 3 0930 lderation of Panelrs Fu ture Actlvtties Panel Menbers Discusslon w/OCP Secretartar 1100 1120 Coffee Consideratlon of Panel Slte Vlelt to OCP Area Datee, Itlnerary etc. 1200 Conslderatlon of Panel % to steer Coumlttee 1300 Future Meetings Dat,e. Place 1315 Other Buetness 1330 AdJourn Note: Meetlng to be held in 24th floor conference rooom, unlted Natrons Deveropnent programe headquartersr 1 Unlted Narlons Plaza (dlrectly across from UN), New York. Tel. (2L2)-754-497L o l ffi