Guide to the implementation of phytosanitary standards in forestry

NEW TRAINING MATERIALS: Good practices for forest health protection

FAO has released an e-learning course aimed at improving the health of the world’s forests and reducing the risk of spreading forest pests through international trade. The course – Good practices for forest health protection – is based on the Guide to implementation of phytosanitary standards in forestry, which provides easy-to-understand information about everything you should know to help protect forests from pests. Developed as a refresher course for forest sector personnel, this e-learning course will also be of interest to anyone interested in learning more about how to protect the health of our forests.

The course comprises six modules, each containing one or more sections, which offer good practices to minimize pest presence or reduce pest spread throughout all four phases of forest resource management – nurseries, planting and management, harvest, and post-harvest. A further module addresses some challenges in preventing pest spread through plants for planting and through woodfuels, as well as preventing intentionally introduced tree species from becoming pests. A final module deals with integrated pest management and combining management measures to reduce the risk of pests in trade. Each lesson is delivered in an interactive self-paced dynamic learning environment which uses illustrated examples of best practices. At the end of each module, quizzes allow users to test their knowledge.

Click HERE to access the course

With increasing global trade, new threats to forest health emerge due to the increased risk and frequency of trade-driven international pest movement. In the last decade several pests have been introduced into other countries and continents through international trade, and these have contributed to the international recognition of the importance of phytosanitary measures.

How much do you know about the health of forests? FAO, using an integrated approach to deal with forest health problems, has produced the Guide to implementation of phytosanitary standards in forestry that provides easy to understand information about everything you should know to help protect the forests from pests.

The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) is an international treaty to secure action to prevent the spread and introduction of pests of plants and plant products, and to promote appropriate measures for their control. The IPPC is governed by the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM) which adopts International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs). These standards are developed and approved through an international consultative process, and are recognized under the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.

ISPMs provide guidance that is broadly applicable for forest health, monitoring, the safe transfer of germplasm and trade in trees and forest products. FAO has prepared this guide to clarify how these ISPMs apply to forestry. The Guide interprets the standards relevant to international forestry pest risks into the language and framework of forest health, outlining how generic principles, such as pest risk analysis and surveillance, can be applied by forest health agencies and forest managers at all levels. It focuses on the practical application of the standards in the forest sector.

The guide was produced by an international core group of scientists, phytosanitary authorities, forest experts and industry representatives and reviewed by more than 100 specialists from 46 countries.

Strengthening country capacity to implement the guide is currently a strong focus for FAO. The main goals are to widely disseminate the key messages of the guide and to integrate people from forestry and plant protection authorities to improve communication and collaboration.