Plants vital to human diets but face growing risks from pests and diseases
Posted on Tue, 05 Apr 2016, 11:51
4 April 2016, FAO, Rome - Invasive ants that devour crops, or the insidious olive quick decline syndrome, which scorches leaves and withers branches, are just some of the multitude of plant-health threats that are spreading more easily in today''s increasingly globalized world.
International experts began gathering at FAO today to focus on the most effective ways to prevent insects, bacteria, viruses and weeds from infesting fruit, vegetable and other plant and food consignments that are traded daily across the world.
The annual meeting of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM), the governing body of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), brings together senior plant health specialists from 182 contracting parties as well as a number of other international organizations and the private sector.
The theme chosen this year, Plant Health for Food Security, stresses the link between the international community''s commitment to eradicate hunger by 2030 and the critical role played by plants in human nourishment.