The new CPM Focus Group on Pest Outbreak Alert and Response Systems is set!

Rome, 10 December 2020. During their last virtual meeting of the year the CPM Bureau selected the experts for the CPM Focus Group on Pest Outbreak Alert and Response Systems, whose Terms of Reference were approved at their July 2020 meeting of the Bureau.

A call for experts was issued on the 24 September 2020, with the deadline of 22 November 2020. Twenty-eight (28) outstanding nominations were received. Experts were reviewed against the following criteria: experience with outbreaks; designing and managing outbreak alert and response systems; knowledge of phytosanitary systems related to pests outbreaks and existing global or regional outbreak frameworks; addressing issues related to invasive species; and relevant work experience.

The CPM Bureau selected sixteen experts including representatives from the CPM Bureau itself, the Standards Committee (SC), the Implementation and Capacity Development Committee (IC), experts from each region (with the exception of the Near-East region as no nominations were submitted), an expert from a regional plant protection organization, and experts from international organizations: Center for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Animal Health Organization (OIE), and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as well as from two networks of researchers: Centre de Coopération International en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD) and International Society for Plant Pathology (ISPP). The list of experts is as follows, listed in alphabetical order:

• Ms Catherine ABADIE, CIRAD (Network of researchers)
• Ms Kitty CARDWELL, ISPP (Network of researchers)
• Ms Mariangela CIAMPITTI, SC Representative
• Mr Nitesh DATT, South-West Pacific region
• Mr Roger DAY, CABI (International Organization)
• Ms Eleonora DUPOUY, FAO/WHO (International Organization)
• Mr Walter ENKERLIN, FAO/IAEA (International Organization)
• Mr Keith HAMILTON, OIE (International Organization)
• Mr Lucien KOUAME KONAN, CPM Bureau Representative
• Ms Olga LAVRENTJEVA, IC Representative
• Ms Xiaonan LI, Asia region
• Ms Mireille MARCOTTE, North-America region
• Mr Hector Emilio MEDINA, Latin America and the Caribbean region
• Ms Panagiota MYLONA, Europe region
• Mr Carlos URIAS, RPPO expert (OIRSA)
• Mr Jan Hendrik VENTER, Africa region

The first meeting of the Focus Group is planned for mid-January 2021. Experts will meet monthly via virtual means until July 2021.

The IPPC Secretariat looks forward to working with this group of experts as they provide guidance for this new activity on Pest Outbreak Alert and Response Systems.