The Major Achievements of the International Plant Protection Convention in 65 Years

The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) was established on 3 April 1952, which aims to protect cultivated and wild plants by preventing the introduction and spread of pests. This year is the 65th Anniversary of the IPPC. During the twelfth Session of the Commission of Phytosanitary Measures (CPM-12) held from 5-11 April 2017 in Incheon, Republic of Korea, Mr. Jingyuan Xia, IPPC Secretary, made a presentation on the Major Achievements of the IPPC in 65 Years, which has received great interest by all participants. Secretary Xia highlighted eight key achievements of the IPPC in 65 years as follows:

1) The number of the IPPC contracting parties (CPs) has increased from 12 in 1952 to 183 in 2017 (over 15 times increase); and nine RPPOs have been established, covering all FAO regions.

2) The IPPC Secretariat was established in 1992; and its staff number has increased from 3 in 1992-1992 to 16 in 2013-2017 (over 5 times increase).

3) The IPPC governing bodies and their operational mechanism have been well established, including the CPM, CPM Bureau, CPM Finance Committee, and CPM Strategic Planning Group (SPG), as well as the three subsidiary bodies, such as Dispute Settlement Committee (DSC), Standard Committee (SC), and Capacity Development Committee (CDC).

4) The IPPC strategic guidance has been provided with IPPC Strategic Objectives (2012-2019), IPPC Annual Themes from 2016-2020, and the annual plan and budget of the IPPC Secretariat from 2016 towards.

5) The standards setting includes adoption of 95 phytosanitary standards from 1993 to 2017, including 41 International Standards on Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs), 22 Diagnostic Protocols and 32 Phytosanitary Treatments.

6) The standards implementation includes conduction of all kinds of projects on Phytosanitary Capacity Evaluation (PCE) in 114 countries from 1999-2016; organization of 84 IPPC Regional Workshops from 2003-2016 with 2097 participants coming from 153 countries; and the registration of ISPM 15 from 2013-2016 in 119 Countries with 111 CPs (61% of total CPs).

7) The communication and advocacy includes increase of National Reporting Obligations (NRO) reports from 140 in 2005 to 244 in 2016 (74 % increase); increase of Pest reports from 28 in 2005 to 98 2016 (250% increase); increase of IPPC news from one in 2003 to 110 in 2016; improvement of IPPC website 5 times from 2004-2016 (2004, 2009, 2013, 2015, and 2016); and publication of 4 editions of IPPC annual reports (2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016).

8) The partnership and liaison includes cooperation with 38 international and regional organizations, 16 technical-related, 14 trade-related, 5 environment-related, and 3 other-related.

In conclusion, Secretary Xia strengthened that the entire IPPC community should be very proud of our own great achievements in the past 65 years, and should be also well prepared for moving towards 2020 to celebrate an International Year of Plant Health, and towards 2030 to contribute to achieving UN SDGs. He urged all RPPOs and NPPOs to organize relevant celebration activities for increasing the presence, visibility and impact of the IPPC globally, regionally and nationally. He encouraged all RPPOs and NPPOs to send their relevant advocacy information to the IPPC Secretariat, which will be showcased in the IPP website.