International Plant Protection Convention annual meeting
08/04/2013-12/04/2013
International Plant Protection Convention annual meeting
Global annual crop yields are reduced by somewhere between 20 and 40 percent due to plant pests and diseases, according to the FAO-based Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). Significant number of these plant pests were introduced via international trade.
With the volume of trade in agricultural products and increasing hazards associated, the international community came together in 1952 to establish a mechanism through which countries could work together to prevent plant pests and diseases from spreading via agricultural commerce.
The IPPC serves as a network for information sharing between countries on pest occurrences, active control measures, phytosanitary regulations and best-practices supporting their efforts to protect plant resources and trade safely. Other IPPC core activities include implementation of standards through capacity development and trade dispute settlement.
The main IPPC activity is the formulation of science-based, internationally-agreed standards which detail how plants and plant products should be handled during trade, known as International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures, or so called ISPMs.
Fifty ISPMs have been developed so far, covering issues ranging from how plant products or wooden packing materials should be treated prior to export, to recommended procedures and methodologies used by agricultural inspectors, to procedures for conducting risk analysis and required formats for phytosanitary certificates. Another 90 proposed topics for new ISPMs are under consideration.
The IPPC's governing body, the Committee on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM), in its annual 8th Session (8-11 April 2013) approved two revised ISPMs.
The first was an update to existing ISPM 11: Pest risk analysis for quarantine pests including analysis of environmental risks and living modified organisms which adds detailed guidance on how authorities should undertake risk analysis for determining if a imported plant might be a pest to cultivated or wild plants, whether they should be regulated, and how to identify phytosanitary measures that reduce the risk to an acceptable level.
Additionally, ISPM 15: Regulation of wood package material in international trade, was revised to provide more specific guidance on approved treatments of wood packaging material.
The CPM also agreed to continue moving ahead on a new ISPM aimed at reducing the transmission of plant pests and diseases via sea containers. (Shipping containers account for around 90 percent of all of the goods transported into the world, with about 5 million in transit by sea at any given moment).
CPM members also discussed options for improving monitoring and pest controls for international shipments of grain and agree on development of new standard regulating the international movement of grain.
With the volume of trade in agricultural products and increasing hazards associated, the international community came together in 1952 to establish a mechanism through which countries could work together to prevent plant pests and diseases from spreading via agricultural commerce.
The IPPC serves as a network for information sharing between countries on pest occurrences, active control measures, phytosanitary regulations and best-practices supporting their efforts to protect plant resources and trade safely. Other IPPC core activities include implementation of standards through capacity development and trade dispute settlement.
The main IPPC activity is the formulation of science-based, internationally-agreed standards which detail how plants and plant products should be handled during trade, known as International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures, or so called ISPMs.
Fifty ISPMs have been developed so far, covering issues ranging from how plant products or wooden packing materials should be treated prior to export, to recommended procedures and methodologies used by agricultural inspectors, to procedures for conducting risk analysis and required formats for phytosanitary certificates. Another 90 proposed topics for new ISPMs are under consideration.
The IPPC's governing body, the Committee on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM), in its annual 8th Session (8-11 April 2013) approved two revised ISPMs.
The first was an update to existing ISPM 11: Pest risk analysis for quarantine pests including analysis of environmental risks and living modified organisms which adds detailed guidance on how authorities should undertake risk analysis for determining if a imported plant might be a pest to cultivated or wild plants, whether they should be regulated, and how to identify phytosanitary measures that reduce the risk to an acceptable level.
Additionally, ISPM 15: Regulation of wood package material in international trade, was revised to provide more specific guidance on approved treatments of wood packaging material.
The CPM also agreed to continue moving ahead on a new ISPM aimed at reducing the transmission of plant pests and diseases via sea containers. (Shipping containers account for around 90 percent of all of the goods transported into the world, with about 5 million in transit by sea at any given moment).
CPM members also discussed options for improving monitoring and pest controls for international shipments of grain and agree on development of new standard regulating the international movement of grain.
