Plant quarantine has become increasingly critical for safeguarding plant health in this age of international trade expansion. The damaging history of pest incursions has underscored the need for strong plant quarantine systems across the globe. This review presents a structured comparative assessment of Nepal’s plant quarantine system against a regional peer (India), a geographically and socioeconomically similar country (Bhutan), and global biosecurity leaders (the United States and Australia). A conceptual structural maturity framework was applied across six core biosecurity dimensions – legal and regulatory strength, pest risk analysis (PRA) integration, pre-border controls, border diagnostic capacity, post-entry quarantine infrastructure, and internal quarantine regulation – to enable systematic cross-country comparison. The assessment indicates that while Nepal maintains foundational legal alignment with International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) principles, its quarantine system remains predominantly border-centric, with limited institutionalization of PRA, post-entry quarantine, and internal quarantine mechanisms. In contrast, some comparator countries exhibit risk-based, science-driven systems supported by advanced diagnostics, digital trade integration, and coordinated surveillance networks. The findings highlight priority areas for strengthening Nepal’s biosecurity architecture, including diagnostic infrastructure development, formal internal quarantine regulation, PRA institutionalization, and enhanced inter-agency coordination. This review provides policy-relevant insights for strengthening plant quarantine systems in resource-constrained settings.
Dhamaniya et al. (Thu,) studied this question.