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A Fredericton-based biotechnology firm is developing viruses that can wipe out forest-ravaging pests, saving millions of trees and creating a green alternative to harmful chemicals.

The biopesticides being developed and marketed by Sylvar Technologies Inc. and its partners - the Canadian Forestry Service and the University of New Brunswick - are designed to target specific insect species.

"That's the green part about them, they don't hit non-target organisms," says John Argall, CEO of Sylvar.

To develop a biopesticide, Sylvar and its partners isolate existing viruses that infect a target insect species.

Sylvar has acquired the license for a biopesticide known as Abietiv and the technology to deliver it. It has tested Abietiv on 55,000 hectares of forest in Newfoundland and Labrador. The baculovirus was designed to target the balsam fir sawfly. The larvae from the sawfly can severely weaken or kill balsam fir trees.

The biopesticide is deployed as a clear liquid that is mixed with water and molasses. The molasses helps the virus stick to tress and leaves, where bugs become infected by it.

Abietiv was isolated and registered for use in Canada by Natural Resources Canada's Canadian Forestry Service through a 10-year, $5 million project.

Sylvar hopes to develop a bank of baculoviruses that can be used to stop a host of harmful insect species as part of an $8.2-million project.

The project received $3 million in federal research funding from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the Atlantic Innovation Fund program.

Specific biopesticides have also been developed in Canada and the U.S. to attack gypsy moths, tussock moths and tent caterpillars.

"What the company is looking to do over time is acquire enough of these viruses, either through its own work or acquisitions from other labs, in order to build up a bank of these viruses."

Sylvar is owned by Forest Protection Limited and BioAtlantic.

"The whole of area biopesticides has been part of the academic milieu for decades and the products are just starting to emerge," said Argall.

"They're in an odd place because they're specific and they have a certain burden, a cost, associated with their development and the regulatory systems are less familiar with the biopesticides than they are with traditional synthetic pesticides."

Fredericton, because of the partnership developed between the private and public sector, has become a leader in the development of biopesticides, he said.

Argall said as public opposition to artificial pesticides grows, there will be an increasing market for green pesticides.

"Pests have been allowed to get out of hand in certain instances," he said.

As concern over carbon-based emissions increases and the importance of forests as a carbon-sink - that is a place where carbon is stored and oxygen is released - green pest control options will be even more attractive, said Argall.

"The forests of the world have a strong role to play in carbon fixation," he said. "Within five or 10 years I'm certain we'll be exchanging the management of our forests for carbon markets. This becomes a green tool to help us do that."