In 1994, Enkerlin was appointed by the national plant protection organization of Mexico as research leader of the project that, in 1997, enabled the opening of the United States market to Hass avocado from Mexico after more than 82 years of quarantine.[2][3] Today Mexico is the world's number one exporter of Hass avocado, supplying 45% of the international avocado market.[4]
Having worked under the IAEA when it was awarded the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, he has developed technical standards, policies, and organizational structures to support the implementation of successful SIT programs worldwide,[5][6] averting devastating economic, social and environmental damage and contributing to food security, food safety and poverty reduction.[7]
Under Enkerlin's directorship, from 2010 to 2015 the Moscamed Programme Commission – the first area-wide and large-scale application of SIT technology against the Mediterranean fruit fly - achieved the greatest advance in pushing the leading edge of the Mediterranean fruit fly infestation away from the Mexican borders, maintaining the Mediterranean fruit fly-free status of Belize, Mexico, and the United States.[10][11] During that time, he was also appointed by the national plant protection organization of Mexico as the lead technical negotiator of the new Guatemala-Mexico-USA Moscamed Program Cooperative Agreement, which was merged into a single tri-national agreement and ratified in July 2014.[12]
In his current role at the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Enkerlin has been the lead entomologist and technical officer for several high-impact Cooperation Projects in member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency, including projects responsible for eradicating the Mediterranean fruit fly from Argentina’s Patagonia region, Patagonia was declared as a fruit fly free area by the USDA-APHIS in 2005[13] and eradicating the Cactoblastis cactorum (cactus moth) in Mexico in 2009.[14][15] For eradicating the Mediterranean fruit fly from the Dominican Republic in 2017, his team was awarded the prestigious IAEA Superior Achievement Award.[16] That same year, he was jointly awarded the prestigious teamwork award from FAO-AG Department.[17]
Published work
Enkerlin has published over 50 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, including the first-ever article published in a scientific journal on the Moscamed Program of the Governments of Mexico, Guatemala and the USA.[18] In 2019, two of his articles received recognition from the British Journal Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata for being one of the top 20 most consulted articles in 2017 and 2018. He is also the author of 5 harmonized technical manuals of the FAO/IAEA.[19][20][21][22] The manuals are used as reference documents in several fruit fly International Standards of Phytosanitary Measures, as well as independently by Member Countries of the FAO and IAEA.
^"Walther Raúl Enkerlin PhD". IAEA Nuclear Applications for Insect Pest Control. International Atomic Energy Agency. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
^Enkerlin, W., J. Reyes, A. Bernabe, J. L. Sánchez, J. Toledo and M. Aluja. 1993. El aguacate "Hass" como hospedante de tres especies de Anastrepha (Diptera: Tephritidae), en condiciones forzadas y naturales. Agrociencia, Serie Protección Vegetal Vol. 4, 329-348.
^6. Enkerlin W. 2000. Plant Quarantine and Hass Avocados: Role of Science in Solving Pest Quarantine Problems: Hass Avocado Case Study. pp. 217-218. In Proceedings of a Conference on Incorporating Science, Economics, and Sociology in Developing Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards in International Trade. National Research Council. National Academy Press, 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington D.C. 20418.
^Jeansonne, Brent (June 1, 2011). "Commercial Horticulture: What do we know about Mexico's avocado production?" (PDF). University of Florida. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-12
^Enkerlin, W.R., J.M. Gutiérrez Ruelas, C. Cáceres Barrios, J. Reyes Flores, J. Hendrichs et al. (2017). The Moscamed Regional Programme: A success story of area-wide sterile insect technique application. Entomological Society Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 1–16, 2017.
^7.Enkerlin W., J. M. Gutiérrez-Ruelas, A. Villaseñor Cortes, E. Cotoc Roldan, D. Midgarden, E. Lira, J. L. Zavala López, J. Hendrichs, P. Liedo and F. J. Trujillo Arriaga (2015). Area Freedom in Mexico from Mediterranean Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae): A Review of Over 30 Years of a Successful Containment Program Using an Integrated Area-Wide SIT Approach. Florida Entomologist, 98(2):665-681.
^Enkerlin, W.R., J.M. Gutiérrez Ruelas, C. Cáceres Barrios, J. Reyes Flores, J. Hendrichs et al. (2017). The Moscamed Regional Programme: A success story of area-wide sterile insect technique application. Entomological Society Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 1–16, 2017.
^FAO/IAEA. 2017. Guideline for packing, shipping, holding and release of sterile flies in area-wide fruit fly control programmes, Second edition, by Zavala-López J.L. and Enkerlin W.R. (eds.). Rome, Italy. 140 pp.
^FAO/IAEA. 2018. Trapping guidelines for area-wide fruit fly programmes, Second edition, by Enkerlin, W.R. and Reyes- Flores, J. (eds). Rome, Italy. 65 pp. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
^FAO/IAEA. 2017. Fruit Sampling Guidelines for Area-Wide Fruit Fly Programmes, Enkerlin WR, Reyes J and Ortiz G (eds.), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Vienna, Austria. 45 pp.
^FAO/IAEA. 2016. Guidelines for the Use of Mathematics in Operational Area-Wide Integrated Pest Management Programmes Using the Sterile Insect Technique with a Special Focus on Tephritid Fruit Flies. Barclay H.L., Enkerlin W.R., Manoukis, N.C. Reyes-Flores, J. (eds.), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Rome, Italy. 95 pp.
