Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control

Technical oversight for the Global Action is provided by FAO’s Plant Production and Protection Division (NSP) and the IPPC Secretariat. FAO provides technical and organizational support by facilitating the Steering Committee, the Technical Committee and Technical Working Groups (TWG), conferences, meetings, scientific visits and video conferences. FAO also provides support to research activities and farmer training, and through development of Global Action plans to ensure a coordinated approach, avoiding overlap and duplication.

The Global Action draws on the technical expertise and experience of all relevant technical divisions in FAO. Elements of both Norway’s pest and disease platform, VIPS; and China’s Monitoring and Early Warning System are being integrated into the FAO application for data and information collection, to support the FAW Monitoring and Early Warning System (FAMEWS).

Technical oversight and input to programme activities and strategy also come from the Technical Committee and the 7 TWGs, which are comprised of international experts and main research partners in each of the thematic areas of the sustainable FAW management components. National experts and representatives from regional economic committees and national research centres, such as the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), are represented in these groups. The TWGs directly and indirectly underpin components of the Global Action for fall armyworm control by providing technical support for partnerships on the sustainable management of fall armyworm; and making recommendations about priorities and gaps. They play a technical advisory role in the programme and to the Technical Committee. In addition to this, the TWG experts facilitate the work of planning and testing different technologies in support of national Task forces in the different regions.

The day-to-day implementation and technical oversight of the Global Action is provided by FAO, with the Director of the Plant Production and Protection (NSP) designated as the Senior Manager in FAO. The Director is supported by the NSP Deputy Director, the IPPC Secretary and the FAW Secretariat.