International Plant Protection Convention

The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) is a multilateral treaty for plant protection to which 116 governments currently adhere. The Convention has been deposited with the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) since first adopted by the FAO Conference in 1951. The IPPC came into force in 1952 and has been amended once in 1979 and again in 1997.

The purpose of the IPPC is to secure common and effective action to prevent the spread and introduction of pests of plants and plant products and to promote measures for their control. The threat to biodiversity from such alien and invasive species (be they plant, animal or other) is considered second only to that of habitat loss. Whether introduced deliberately or unintentionally, many of these once established may out-compete native species and take over their new environment.

The Convention provides a framework and forum for international co-operation, harmonisation and technical exchange in collaboration with regional and national plant protection organisations. The IPPC also plays a vital role in trade as it is the organisation recognised by the World Trade Organisation in the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures as the source for international standards for the phytosanitary measures affecting trade.

Although the IPPC has strong implications for international trade, it has international co-operation for plant protection as its focus. Its application to plants is not limited only to the protection of cultivated plants or direct damage from pests. The scope of the Convention extends to the protection of cultivated and natural flora as well as plant products, and includes both direct and indirect damage by pests.

FAO and the IPPC

The IPPC is administered through the Plant Protection Service in FAO and implemented primarily through the co-operation of regional and national plant protection organisations. In 1992, FAO established a Secretariat for the IPPC in recognition of the expectation for standard setting associated with the World Trade Organisation Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Agreement. The Secretariat has the responsibility for the co-ordination of the work programme in the global harmonisation of phytosanitary measures under the IPPC.

Primary activities of the Secretariat are:

• the establishment of International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs)
• the provision of information required by the IPPC and the facilitation of information exchange between contracting parties
• the provision of technical assistance through FAO and co-operation with governments and other organisations for the provision of other technical assistance.