2016 Theme: Food Security

A range of pests of plants pose a greater threat to food security than ever before, thanks to changes in global trade that enable the pests to move further and faster than before, and to climate change which creates favourable conditions where they did not exist before. For some pests, management options exist to bring invasions under control, possibly even eradicating the pest. For many others, there may be no way to stem the invasion which can affect food security negatively. In both cases, careful pest risk analysis and monitoring to minimise the chances of a pest invasion will be both more efficient and far less costly than mounting a control operation.

New pests and diseases can have a devastating effect on a country’s agricultural production. Historically, a plant pest called late blight (Phytophthora infestans), native to Central America, was the immediate cause of the great Irish famine of 1845, which killed more than a million people. Today, new or new strains of pests of plants threaten other staple crops around the world, such as bananas in Africa, wheat in Asia, coconuts in the Caribbean & Africa, and maize around the world.

To protect national food security, the IPPC provides countries an international framework in which the global movement of pests of plants can be managed on a national and scientific basis within their acceptable level of phytosanitary risk. A major objective been to ensure national food security by minimizing the impact of pests on plants. However, to meet this objective, it is essential countries implement the IPPC, and associated international standards (ISPMs – recognized by the World Trade Organization), appropriately and receive the necessary support and technical assistance from the IPPC Community.

2016 was the IPPC year of plant health and food security. A range of activities has been organized to cover this theme.

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