Chong Yao Shen, Executive Secretary of the APPPC reported on the activities of the secretariat and working groups since the twenty-second session of the Commission.
3.1 Status of Plant Protection Agreement for Asia and the Pacific
There was no change in membership of the Asia and Pacific Plant Protection Commission. There are in total twenty-four (24) countries party to the Plant Protection Agreement for the Asia and Pacific region. Some FAO member countries such as Bhutan, Maldives, Japan and the United States of America and one non-FAO member country (Singapore) have expressed interest in becoming members of the Commission.
3.2 Status of the revised Plant Protection Agreement for the Asia and Pacific region
The revised Plant Protection Agreement for the Asia and Pacific region was approved by the FAO Council in 1999 and the certified true copies of its first set were transmitted to all APPPC members on 19 June 2000. It was accepted officially only by Viet Nam. Malaysia was reported to have submitted it to the cabinet for approval while other countries such as China, Korea DPR, New Zealand and the Philippines are in the process of obtaining government acceptance.
The FAO-TCP project on "pest risk analysis (PRA) for South American leaf blight of rubber" that was approved by the FAO Technical Cooperation Department in June 2001 is expected to start soon. The result of the PRA project will be used as the basis for formulating South American leaf blight (SALB) regional standard.
Regarding regional standards, two subjects were recommended for consideration in 2002-2003: "import requirements to prevent the introduction of Mediterranean fruit fly" and "guidelines for the training of plant quarantine inspectors".
The specification of the regional standards was prepared by Biosecurity Australia in consultation with the APPPC secretariat and the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Plant Quarantine. A regional standard working group was convened in June 2002 to draft the regional standards and renamed them as: "guidelines for the development of heat disinfestation treatment of fruit fly commodities" and '"raining requirements for plant quarantine inspectors". The expert consultation on regional standards for phytosanitary measures and information sharing held in October 2002 at the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAO/RAP) considered and revised the draft regional standards and recommended sending them to all APPPC members countries for consultation and comments.
APPPC members have made few comments on the draft regional standards. The APPPC secretary sent all comments received to members of the Standard Committee. The draft regional standards were revised by the APPPC secretariat and the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Plant Quarantine, taking into account the comments from the members and some suggestions from T K Lim, Australia. The revised draft regional standards are submitted for consideration and adoption by this Commission.
The Information Network Sub-Committee was convened as a part of the expert consultation on regional standards and information sharing to consider options for an information network and the use of the IPP as the site of a database of the APPPC. The meeting recommended a site within IPP as the suitable site for the APPPC information exchange. The meeting also recommended the categories of information to be used in the APPPC web page and requested the APPPC secretariat to add the relevant information to the web page.
3.3 Development of integrated pest management (IPM) programme in the region
The FAO programme for community IPM in Asia The fourth phase of the regional IPM rice project was terminated after 22 years of support by donor governments. The national foundations established should continue to support the IPM rice activities in individual countries. A book published by FAO/RAP titled From farmers’ field school to community IPM: ten years of IPM in Asia was warmly welcomed by a number of authorities.
The FAO-EU IPM programme for cotton in Asia The regional IPM cotton project started officially in October 1999 with a contribution of US$12 million by the European Union and covered six Asian countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan, the Philippines and Viet Nam. The European Union intends to continue to support the second phase of the programme. This phase is focused on ecologically depressed agriculture including cotton and extended to six more countries. An additional budget of two million euros was recommended for this phase.
The FAO vegetable IPM programme - phase II This programme commenced in July 2002 and emphasized vegetable IPM farmers participatory training and research with a sharp focus on major crops and pests in five countries: Thailand, Viet Nam, Lao PDR, Cambodia and Yunnan province of China. Other Asian countries may join the programme in the later stages. This phase aims to strengthen and expand the capacity of the government agencies and the NGOs to conduct IPM training and continuing field activities, to create and strengthen groups of small holder farmers to take collective action in support of ecological-based vegetable production and marketing, and to institute a sustainable system for solving the technical problems. This will be accomplished with a budget of US$2.8 million (US$1.4 million each from the Netherlands and Australia); the project can run until June 2004.
3.4 Implementation of the Rotterdam Convention on the prior informed consent (PIC) procedure for certain hazardous chemicals and pesticide in international trade
The work on pesticides in the Asia and Pacific region is directed towards harmonization of pesticide regulations. Pesticide regulators from South East Asian countries met in Bangkok in January 2002 to assess the need for harmonization of the pesticide regulatory process. All countries expressed an interest in achieving pesticide regulatory harmonization. Five from ten potential subjects identified within pesticide regulatory process were targeted for immediate action: data submission format, data requirement, labeling, propriety rights and extension for bio-pesticides. Greater efforts must be made to ensure efficient data exchange and emphasized the desire for closer cooperation in pesticide regulatory procedures and the need for long term commitments.
The second workshop on pesticide regulatory harmonization for ten ASEAN countries will be held in August 2003 in Malaysia to follow up the activities recommended previously and discuss the raising of a FAO-TCP project on "assisting ASEAN countries to achieve pesticide regulatory harmonization".
3.5 Interim Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (ICPM)
The fourth and the fifth sessions of ICPM were convened in 2002 and 2003 at FAO headquarters, Rome. APPPC was well represented in both sessions with attendance of 14 and 13 APPPC member countries respectively.
The ICPM-4 adopted the phytosanitary capacity evaluation (PCE) as a mechanism to assist countries access their phytosanitary capacity. On-going efforts have been made to further develop and maintain the PCE, which has been trialed in the Asia Pacific region.
3.6 Participation in the technical consultation among Regional Plant Protection Organizations (RPPOs)
The thirteenth technical consultation among RPPOs was convened in New Zealand in 2001.
The consultation adopted the guidelines for recognition of RPPOs and the new rule of procedure for representatives of the RPPOs attending WTO-SPS Committee meetings and decided on many coordinating activities (including the assistance to APPPC in identification PRA consultant for South American leaf blight) and discussed the issue of diminished access to methyl bromide.
The fourteenth technical consultation among RPPOs was convened in Morocco in 2002.
The session endorsed the Executive Secretary’s report.
