REACT aims to develop long-term environmentally friendly response strategies and novel sustainable tools to protect fruit and vegetable production and export capacities from two invasive insect pests of EU priority – Bactrocera dorsalis (Bd) and Bactrocera zonata (Bz).

The project will provide enhanced capacity to prevent, identify, monitor, and control these pests. To assess invasion risks, REACT will study the main facilitators and drivers of early invasive processes, the sources and dynamics of adventive populations, and suitable hotspots for species establishment. The project will also develop a novel field-deployable, rapid, and cost-effective mobile solution for interception. Multiple novel reaction strategy components and tools will be developed and integrated to tackle outbreak events by economically sound programs. The project will also conduct experiments to prove the feasibility of an eradication approach for the first time in Europe. The program and its socio-economic impact will be evaluated with stakeholders and multiple actors. The goal is to create rapid response pest eradication capabilities that are pesticide free and safe for the environment.