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Plant Quarantine and Phytosanitary Service, P/BAG 7, Chilanga, Zambia.

Month: June 2022

15 Jun 22

Did you know that food and other humanitarian aid can carry plant pests?

Photo Credit: © FAO/Olivier Asselin Posted on Tue, 14 Jun 2022, 14:23 Rome 13 June 2022. All food and other humanitarian donations are more than welcome, especially in emergencies and to vulnerable people. Saving lives is the utmost importance for all. However, it is known that disasters impact in agriculture threatens all three pillars of sustainable development: social, environmental, and economic. Countries have faced challenges to manage pest risk effectively during an emergency, for example, receiving aid from other countries when natural disasters happen. It has been recognized that the provision of aid supplies could bring pests, which causes long-term impacts on the economy, environment and communities. The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) adopted a global recommendation to tackle pests in food aid to strengthen long-term food security; to combat humanitarian crisis and to further support the objectives of the IPPC Strategic Framework 2020-2030. The IPPC and its Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM) agreed to establish a Focus Group on Safe Provision of Food and Other Humanitarian Aid. The main objectives are to ensure international co-operation to prevent the global spread of plant pests and propose solutions for development of a global standard and other supplementary tools, outlining the key principles, requirements and other aspects that it should contain. A call for experts is open and the deadline is 24 June 2022. More information is available here. The members of this new Focus Group should have experience and expertise in one or more of the following areas: -Procurement and the supply of humanitarian aid (aid agency and government) -Plant health policy and risk management regulation -Plant health emergency response/management -Clearance of imported goods under emergency or disaster constraints The Focus Group will meet for the first time on 20-21 July 2022 (12:00-14:00, Rome time) in virtual mode. All NPPOs and RPPOs are strongly encouraged to nominate experts on this critical and important topic. Make a difference and be part of this! For further information, 02735163 please contact: ippp@fao.org See also the CPM Focus Group webpage: https://www.ippc.int/en/core-activities/governance/cpm/cpm-focus-group-reports/cpm-focus-group-on-safe-provision-of-food-and-other-humanitarian-aid/
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15 Jun 22

The first 2022 face-to-face EWG meeting is ready to draft a new annex to the International Standard on International movement of wood!

Expert Working Group members at the June 2022 meeting in Vancouver, Canada. © FAO Posted on Tue, 14 Jun 2022, 08:03 13 June 2022, Vancouver – The IPPC Expert Working Group (EWG) is slated to meet from 13 to 17 June 2022 in Vancouver, Canada, to develop the draft Annex on the use of systems approaches in managing pest risks associated with the movement of wood (2015-004) to ISPM 39 (International movement of wood). The EWG experts are tasked to develop an annex according to Specification 69. The annex should provide guidance to NPPOs on the use, within the context of a systems approach, of specific phytosanitary measures that act independently but when applied together they provide complementary and synergistic mitigation of quarantine pest risks associated with wood. This guidance would be designed to be as specific as possible for pest groups associated with wood, or pests of specific areas within the wood, or pests of specific types of wood. The annex would build upon guidance already established by the IPPC and aim to identify specific procedures and practices that may be practically applied from production to export of wood to meet phytosanitary import requirements. The meeting is co-organized by the IPPC Secretariat and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and supported by the North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO). EWG meeting is chaired by Mr Steve Côté (CFIA, National Manager, International Phytosanitary Standards unit). Twelve participants will be engaged in the meeting, including six members of the EWG (representing Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America) as well as the Steward of the ISPM, host representative, and an invited expert from the Implementation and Capacity Development Committee. The report of the meeting will be available on the IPP: https://www.ippc.int/en/core-activities/standards-setting/expert-drafting-groups/expert-working-groups/. The IPPC Secretariat wishes to thank CFIA and NAPPO for co-organizing and hosting the EWG meeting, as well as for their financial contribution.
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