The IPPC towards 2020 and beyond

The 4th Strategic Planning Group (SPG) meeting was held in Rome from 13-15 October 2015, with the main theme The IPPC toward 2020. The meeting was chaired by Ms Lois Ransom (Australia), with presence of 27 participants from 22 contracting parties. Two rapporteurs were selected for the meeting - Mr Lucien Kouame Konan (Ivory Coast) and Mr Sam Bishop (United Kingdom). All participants were welcomed and invited to actively participate in the discussions. The SPG chairperson highlighted that the meeting focus on discussions of strategic nature to set the future priorities of the IPPC.

Mr. Jingyuan Xia, the IPPC Secretary, made a keynote presentation on the IPPC towards 2020, stressing the relevance of linking the IPPC Secretariat s work to the relevant UN post-2015 sustainable development goals and to fully deliver on the two relevant FAO strategic objectives. The core team members from the IPPC Secretariat, Mr. Brent Larson, Mrs. Ana Peralta, Mr. David Nowell, Mr. Marko Benovic and Mr. Craig Fedchock, presented, respectively, their views on Standard Setting towards 2020, Implementation Facilitation towards 2020, Communication and Partnership towards 2020, Resource Mobilization towards 2020, and Advanced Technologies in Plant Health towards 2020. The SPG also discussed future activities with regard to the International Year of Plant Health in 2020 (IYPH 2020), and agreed on themes for the next five years building towards IYPH 2020.

The future direction of the IPPC towards 2030 resulted in a lot of discussion and the drafting of the next IPPC Strategic Framework was initiated. The SPG agreed that it was essential that work be initiated soonest, building on 2014 and 2015 SPG discussions and that the full membership of the IPPC be involved in providing input. It was emphasised that particularly developing countries should feel part of the process and enabled in the discussions. The full report of the SPG meeting will be posted on the IPP soon.