What FAO has done: The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) provides an international framework for plant protection that includes developing International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs) that protect plant resources from pests.  The IPPC provides countries the tools to analyse risks to their national plant pool and to use science-based measures and the framework to safeguard their cultivated and wild plants.

Substantial additional resources are needed to implement the IPPC, including USD 1.5 million per annum to develop new standards and review adopted ISPMs, with USD 30 million required over six years for the national implementation of adopted standards (including capacity development projects in 42 developing countries).

What Next? The IPPC is working on the development and implementation of international phytosanitary standards. This is to ensure improved food security  and ensure safe trade to protect plants for agricultural and environmental purposes, especially from a biodiversity perspective.  Enhanced support from partners is essential to fund this and other important IPPC activities. Please contact ippc@fao.org for further information.

What FAO has done: To date, the Codex Alimentarius Commission has adopted hundreds of standards (for single commodities, groups of commodities or horizontal subjects such as labelling or hygiene), codes of practice and guidelines. It has adopted thousands of maximum limits for food additives and contaminants, as well as pesticide and veterinary drug residues in foods. Together, these texts form the Codex Alimentarius.

The Codex Alimentarius promotes the harmonization of import requirements for foods. Codex food safety related standards, guidelines and codes of practice serve as a reference in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. The Agreement recognizes the Commission as one of three international standard-setting organizations, 'the three sisters', the other two being the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). Codex texts also have relevance as international standards in the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.

The Commission is assisted by a Rome-based secretariat and an Executive Committee. The technical work is done by some 20 Codex specialist committees and task forces, which prepare draft standards and related texts for adoption by the Commission. The committees rely on independent scientific advice provided by FAO and WHO expert groups – the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA), Joint FAO/WHO Meetings on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) and ad hoc consultations. Six regional coordinating committees collect information on regional implementation of Codex standards and other regional issues, and also prepare standards of regional relevance.

Current membership consists of 184 countries and the European Union as a member organisation, and covers more than 99 percent of the world’s population. About 200 international observer organizations are accredited to participate in meetings of the Commission and its subsidiary bodies.

Yet standards achieve little when not supported by direct action. In 2008, the world became aware of the danger posed by melamine that was fraudulently added to food products. Melamine is a chemical used in the manufacture of plastics and fertilizer. Following the adulteration of infant formula with Melamine to make its protein content appear higher, more than 50,000 infants were hospitalized and at least six died. FAO and WHO responded quickly to provide information and technical support to national food safety authorities as the contaminated dairy products were found in many countries. In addition, an expert meeting was convened in December 2008 to agree on safe limits for melamine in infant formula and other foods. The expert advice from this meeting was then considered by the Codex Committee for Contaminants in Food and led to the adoption in July 2010 of a global standard establishing maximum levels for melamine in powdered infant formula and other foods. 

What Next? While much has been achieved, key challenges still exist for developing and transition countries. One priority is to enhance capacities to strengthen the scientific basis for food control measures and food standards.

For this purpose, FAO has launched the Science for Safe Food Strategy (2010 – 2013) which is coupled with an established multi-donor trust fund, the Global Initiative for Food-related Scientific Advice (GIFSA).

What FAO has done: FAO has developed and published technical guidelines to provide further guidance related to specific technical aspects. In so doing, FAO has, among other achievements, contributed to establishing a coordinated and harmonized approach to the development of national pesticide legislation; to a significant reduction in the availability and use of highly hazardous pesticides, with resulting decreases in farmer poisoning; to more sustainable crop protection and improved food safety; and to lessened environmental contamination.

FAO has helped 93 countries to tackle problems of obsolete pesticides and pesticides management. Some 4000 tonnes of obsolete pesticides from 9 countries have been disposed of with FAO support, and an additional 5 700 tonnes from 8 more countries will have been dealt with by the end of 2013.

FAO is updating the Code of Conduct in close collaboration with WHO. A global review of the use of technical guidelines and country needs is under way. There is increasing demand for practical tools to help countries achieve more.

What next? Future activities requiring support from resource partners include:

·         finalizing the updating of the Code of Conduct to include public health pesticides;

·         preparing and updating technical guidelines for priority areas identified by countries;

·         developing additional tools to improve pesticide management;

·         supporting initiatives towards harmonization of regulatory aspects;

·         providing assistance in regulatory reform and capacity building to individual countries.

What FAO has done: Maintaining biodiversity for food and agriculture is a global responsibility. Since 1983, FAO has provided a permanent forum where governments discuss and negotiate matters relevant to biodiversity for food and agriculture. It is called the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The main objectives of the Commission are to ensure the conservation and sustainable utilization of genetic resources for food and agriculture, as well as the fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from their use, for present and future generations.

The work of the Commission focuses on developing and overseeing the implementation of policies and supporting new initiatives that not only raise awareness of the issues, but also look to the future for ways to solve problems. The Commission guides the periodic preparation of global assessments of the status and trends of genetic diversity, the threats to genetic diversity and measures being taken for its conservation and sustainable use. The Commission also negotiates relevant global instruments for the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity, such as the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which was adopted by the FAO Conference in 2001 and now has its own autonomous governance structure, and, more recently, the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources (2007).

In 2007, the Commission launched its Multi-Year Programme of Work, a rolling 10-year work plan covering all biodiversity of relevance to food and agriculture. This programme includes the preparation of country-driven state of the world reports for various components of biodiversity for food and agriculture, and covers a whole range of cross-sectorial matters. The work programme foresees for 2017 the presentation of the first-ever report on The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture.

What Next? In close cooperation with its Members and partners, FAO, under the guidance of its Commission, is in the process of preparing global reports on the status and trends of forest and aquatic genetic resources. Together with the reports on plant and animal genetic resources, these reports will contribute to a global comprehensive assessment of the state of the world’s genetic resources for food and agriculture. The assessment will allow the Commission to take action at global level and to guide and oversee implementation at regional and national level. However FAO will require additional resrouces to ensure that these assessments are completed to the standards expected by the Organization.

What FAO has done: The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is the international legal instrument governing conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their use. The Treaty entered into force in 2004 and, to date, has 127 Contracting Parties. It provides farmers, breeders and scientists with operative mechanisms to exchange plant genetic resources smoothly and with legal certainty, and to distribute the benefits deriving from such an exchange fairly.  

The Treaty facilitates the exchange of crop genetic material worldwide through a global gene pool of more than 1.5 million samples. Its standards apply to genebank material that accounts for 75 percent of the world’s collections.

In addition, its benefit-sharing fund provides financial support to projects on conservation and sustainable use of food crops on farm. In Peru, for example, the Treaty is supporting six indigenous communities for reintroducing, conserving and utilizing more than 300 varieties of traditional native potatoes. Similar projects are under way in India, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, Tanzania, Cuba, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and Egypt. US$10 million dollars have recently been mobilized for new regional and national initiatives in developing countries on crop adaptation to climate change.

What Next?  The Secretariat of the Treaty will continue to facilitate international policy dialogue for countries to monitor international access and benefit-sharing standards, for the sustainable use of our most important food crops. The flow of information on the material available in the global gene pool will be improved. Signatories to the Treaty have set a target of US$ 116 million by year 2014 for the benefit-sharing fund of the Treaty and will cooperate with other relevant partners such as IFAD and UNDP to achieve the target. Additional resources are being sought to invest in projects with the following priorities:

·         information exchange, technology transfer and capacity building;
·         management and conservation of plant genetic resources on-farm;
·         sustainable use of plant genetic resources.