15 October 2020, Rome- The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) Secretariat and the FAO Right to Food Team embarked for first time on collaboration last June. As a result of this partnership, both sides intervened with a joint statement at the Meeting of the High Level meeting of the Committee on World Food Security.

It was read by Rommakanti Rajender, India Representative and Chairperson of Committee on Agriculture (COAG) 28th on the trhird day, part 4.

2020 is the International Year of Plant Health. Plants are critical for safeguarding food security, or the ongoing access to sufficient, affordable, safe and nutritious food, hence ensuring the right to food for all in order to live and healthy lives

Transition to sustainable and resilient food systems in the context of climate change will require additional efforts and collective action to prevent, inter alia, plant pests and diseases and to advance the right to adequate food for present and future generations.

Countries have put in place different instruments and bodies that have provided valuable responses and standards. However, considering the dimension of the challenges, the world requires increased innovation in governance responses, as well as in capacity to implement standards in those areas. Consumers are at the forefront of demanding healthy, safe, affordable and nutritious food, and globally, through consumers’ organizations they contribute to strengthening food systems governance, including the plant health domain at global, regional and national level. Coordinated actions across all relevant sectors is essential to advance progress towards the SDG2, and therefore contribute to the achievements of all SDGs by 2030.

The CFS is delivering excellent policy products but our question is the following: while continuing promoting a human-right based approach throughout, would the CFS consider promoting other policy instruments, such as International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures?

You can watch and hear the intervention here (Duration: 2 min, from 2:01:30 to 2:03:36).