New Taipei launches tree root rot reporting platform

• By Lo Kuo-chia and Esme Yeh / Staff reporters

• • Add TT as Preferred Source

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The New Taipei City Government’s Agriculture Bureau has launched a brown root rot reporting platform meant to allow people to help prevent tree deaths in the city.

The online platform integrates location data and photo uploading, allowing people using the platform to easily report spotted brown root rots via their phone.

Bureau director Chen Shi-hui (諶錫輝) said brown root rot, sometimes known as “tree cancer,” is a plant disease resulting from fungi that infect the tree roots.

A fallen tree is pictured in an undated photograph.

Photo: Screen grab from the New Taipei City Government’s Web site

It rots the roots and base of the tree, increasing the risk of treefalls, he said.

Brown root rot is highly contagious and difficult to detect during the early stage of infection, Chen said, adding that it is likely to spread on a large scale.

Prompt reporting and precise removal are key to halting the spread, he said.

Brown root rot reporting in the city once relied on patrol and inspection efforts by district office or school personnel, Chen said.

Their efforts were more focused, and did not provide a comprehensive picture of the disease’s distribution across the city, he said.

The new reporting platform creates a “brown root rot hotspot map” by compiling the reports and data over the past five years, Chen said.

People can use the platform to search for information such as reporting areas, geographic coordinates, responsible agencies and case progress, he said.

Trees with brown root rot have signs such as abnormal yellowing or wilting of leaves, and tree bases covered with a netlike fungal crust, Chen said.

People who spot such signs can use their phone to locate the tree, take a photo and report it on the platform, he said.

That would help agencies update the hotspot map with new data and prioritize high-risk regions for preventive inspections, he added.