Asian region successfully concluded its 2022 IPPC Regional Workshop

Incheon, 6 September. The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) Asia Pacific Plant Protection Commission (APPPC) regional workshop was successfully convened from 29 August to 2 September 2022. The workshop was held in hybrid mode this year, with 27 participants attending in person and 11 participants virtually, from a total of 13 countries in Asia and the Pacific. The workshop was chaired by Kyu-Ock Yim from the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (APQA), Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of the Republic of Korea.

IPPC Secretary Osama El-Lissy opened the workshop through a video message by emphasizing the essential role that innovative plant health methods have in guaranteeing the right to food for everyone. Park BK, Commissioner of APQA delivered the welcome remarks by highlighting the importance of tackling plant health issues. Yubak Dhoj GC from the APPPC Secretariat and Fuxiang Wang and Peter Thomson, CPM Bureau members of Asia and the Pacific, thanked APQA for organizing the hybrid workshop and expected participants to have a fruitful discussion.

Participants discussed the six draft standards, especially Revision of ISPM 4 (Requirements for the establishment of pest free areas), Revision of ISPM 18 (Guidelines for the use of irradiation as a phytosanitary measure), and Criteria for evaluation of available information for determining host status of fruit to fruit flies to ISPM 37 (Determination of host status of fruit flies (Tephritidae)). The Standards Committee representatives provided an outline of the draft standards and participants discussed the draft standards through the Online Comment System. As a result of discussion, they agreed to regional comments to be submitted to the IPPC Secretariat.

The CPM Bureau, the Standards Committee and the Implementation and Capacity Development Committee member in the Asian region and the IPPC Secretariat provided updates and presented additional topics including IPPC activities such as the ePhyto solution, the IPPC Observatory and Phytosanitary Capacity Evaluation.

The APPPC Secretariat provided updates on regional issues particularly on the Fall Armyworm Global Action and regional achievements on Fall Armyworm management. He also highlighted APPPC activities after the IPPC regional workshop last year including planning and preparation for the 32nd session of the APPPC that will be held in Bangkok, Thailand in November 2022.

The Chair of the Standards Committee, Sophie Peterson, provided updates on the commodity standards that are under development while Lihong Zhu, IPPC contact point of New Zealand, presented the results of the APPPC regional workshop on commodity standards held from 2-3 June 2022. Proposal of commodities were introduced and the discussion about the development of Regional Standards for Phytosanitary Measures or submission to the IPPC call for topics will continue during the APPPC session in November.

In accordance with this year’s workshop theme “Innovative Plant Health for Food Security”, two activities at the national level were introduced. One is about a remote surveillance technology for Fruit Flies in islands that is piloted by Naha Plant Protection Station, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan. Another is on an ongoing project about integrated pest management (IPM) research to develop non-chemical pest controls, which is under the Moonshot Research and Development Program (a five-year long national program).

Participants held a one-day visit to the National Agrobiodiversity Center (Suwon regional center) and learned about the preservation of genetic resources that were imported by the Specific Import Authorization and was discussed as one of the draft standards, draft annex to ISPM 20: Use of Specific Import Authorizations.

Participants thanked the APQA and APPPC Secretariat for their efforts in organizing the successful hybrid workshop. The Standards Committee Chair acknowledged that having the hybrid workshop was challenging for the host country but thanked participants for an interactive session and for their engagement. She also highlighted the importance for all participating countries to submit their comments and actively participate in the consultation of the draft standards. More details on IPPC APPPC Regional Workshop will be published on the International Phytosanitary Portal (IPP).