July Update from the CPM Bureau

Colleagues \r\n\r\nThis note is to provide information about the recent CPM Bureau meeting and to give some reminders about recent requests.\r\n\r\nTwo deadlines are approaching, one for treatments to be submitted for possible international recognition and the other for nominations for the Technical Panel on the Glossary.\r\n\r\nFor phytosanitary treatments data is sought for:\r\n\r\n Modified atmospheres and controlled atmospheres for fruit flies\r\n Soil and Growing Media\r\n Irradiation treatments. The deadline is 1st September 2012.\r\n\r\nFor the Technical Panel for the Glossary (TPG) we need nominations of French and Arabic speakers. These were due by 1st June (see https://www.ippc.int/index.php?id=1111080) but in the absence of nominations so far there is still a need for these experts; otherwise the TPG can not function effectively. \r\n\r\nThe CPM Bureau met in June, unfortunately without the vice-chair, who is also the representative from the Near-East. The following were amongst the many items discussed:\r\n\r\nISO: The Secretary will write to the Secretariat of ISO to point out the status of ISPMs, in particular that it is not necessary for country s processes to be ISO accredited to implement ISPMs and to ask that this idea is not promoted\r\nUnited Nations Economic Community for Europe UN/ECE: The Secretary will also write to the secretariat of United Nations Economic Community for Europe UN/ECE asking them to ensure that where there are references to ISPMs in their regional standards that these are correct and to request them not promote that their standards have the same level of international recognition as ISPMs\r\nBoth of these issues will be referred to Standards Committee for noting and the SC members will be requested to engage at a regional level to help ensure regional standards are in line with the IPPC as needed.\r\n\r\nIPPC Financial Committee: The first meeting of the Financial committee took place before the Bureau and made progress on how to present financial information for CPM, as well as learning about FAO finances and the prospect of reduced core funding in the future, given the reform of FAO and continual pressure on budgets.\r\nFAO Reform: The Secretary informed the Bureau of the shrinking budget and personnel resources at FAO. All FAO programs, including IPPC, will face an across the board 5% reduction in regular program funding in 2013. The new DG is still in a process of establishing himself and communicating his agenda. The new DG is also promoting increased outsourcing of FAO activity and programs as well as decentralizing personnel so more FAO headquarters staff are being assigned to the field. Apart from the budget, it is not clear how these other changes may affect the IPPC. However, the Bureau again discussed the need for members to promote the importance of the IPPC to their representatives to FAO to protect and maintain IPPC profile in the context of evolving program and budget discussions at FAO. Last, FAO efforts to study the merits of granting increased autonomy to Article XIV bodies, including the IPPC, are at standstill at the moment. \r\nEstablishing the CDC: At CPM-7, members established a more formalized oversight body for capacity building, naming it the Capacity Development Committee (CDC). There will soon be an open call for nominations for the CDC. The call for nominations will go through the NPPO and RPPOs. The first meeting of the CDC is planned for December 2012.\r\nScience Topic for CPM-8: The Secretariat made a call for topics to the science symposium at CPM-8. After reviewing the submitted proposals from NPPOs and RPPOs the Bureau agreed on the topic: Revisiting treatment efficacy and the role of Probit 9: Implications for pest risk management justification . This topic was of particular interest to the Bureau because of the anticipated loss of methyl bromide, questions related to measuring efficacy of measures, and the increasing use and reliance on systems approaches as an alternative risk management strategy. The Secretariat will follow-up to make a call for other potential speakers on the subject.\r\nRegional workshops: The agenda for regional workshops is being finalised and should include items on barriers to surveillance and pest reporting through IPP. There will also be discussion on the feasibility of the development of a global list of top priority pests, a topic which was put to the Bureau for possible IRSS funding.\r\nePhyto: The Secretariat has established an ePhyto page on the IPP – please refer to this for the latest information about this major issue. The possibility of the use of an IPPC cloud to obviate the creation of thousands of bilateral agreements on electronic exchange of phytosanitary certificates was discussed and more information will be shared on this idea in the near future.\r\nThe Strategic Planning Group (SPG): The Bureau agreed to rename the SPTA as the SPG – the Strategic Planning Group – and an agenda for the October meeting is now posted on the IPP. The purpose is to focus on strategic discussions, not the day to day running of the Secretariat and other IPPC bodies. To ensure this meeting is geographically representative please check with your Bureau member that there will be sufficient representation from your region.\r\nBureau Rule of Procedure: The Bureau had a good discussion about the development of its rules of procedure and has asked FAO Legal to prepare a paper for the SPG. One particular area of interest is the Bureau s relations with the subsidiary bodies, particularly in relation to the extent to which the Bureau represents the CPM outside the plenary meetings.\r\nCPM Rules of Procedure: The Secretariat is still trying to arrange the Focus group on the CPM Rules of Procedure in respect of election of the Bureau. Discussions about the Bureau RoP flagged up other issues in connection with the CPM RoP and so there may be other changes proposed to the next CPM.\r\nCommunications Strategy: Finally the Bureau agreed to recommend acceptance of the draft Communications strategy to CPM, via the SPG. To assist with communications and spreading the message about the importance of plant health, the Secretariat needs stories and images about the plant health situation in your country, whether these are successes or failures, including good quality images of pests, inspectors in action, eradication campaigns, etc.\r\nSo please keep raising the profile of plant health in your country, whether it be with senior officials, Ministers, the production and distribution industries, wholesalers and retailers, pointing out the extent to which they benefit from plant health activities associated with the IPPC. The organisation remains in need of human and financial resources, particularly in the standard setting and information exchange areas, so do anything you can inside or outside your service to promote the IPPC and identify possible funding streams.\r\n\r\nThe Bureau hope you find this information useful and we would welcome any comments or other reactions to the level and timing of information we are providing.\r\n\r\nSteve Ashby\r\n\r\nOn behalf of the CPM Bureau\r\n\r\n