The first meeting of the Expert Working Group for the development of the IPPC Pest Free Area Guide

IPPC 2017 - Meeting participants convened in Rome Italy to initiate the development of the IPPC Pest Free Area Guide

The first meeting dedicated to the development of a Pest Free Area Guide was held in Rome Italy the 20 - 24 November 2017. The meeting was organized by the IPPC Secretariat and chaired by Mr Kenneth A. Bloem, phytosanitary expert of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) with the presence of phytosanitary experts from several FAO regions and IPPC Secretariat staff.

The development of the Pest Free Area Guide is driven by gaps identified through the IPPC General Surveys 2012 - 2013 and 2016, and the IPPC Framework for Standards and Implementation. The Pest Free Area Guide and supplementary resources are being developed with the generous financial support of Agriculture Canada and the Canadian Good Inspection Agency of the Government of Canada. The overall objective of this guide is to provide general guidance to national plant protection organizations who aim to establish and maintain Pest Free Areas (PFAs), Pest Free Places of Production (PFPPs), Pest Free Production Sites (PFPSs) and Areas of Low Pest Prevalence (ALPP).

The main objectives of this initial expert working group meeting were to sensitize selected experts on the objectives and expected outcomes of this project, and to review and agree upon a draft outline of the Pest Free Area Guide based on ISPM4 - Requirements for the establishment of pest free areas, ISPM10 - Requirements for the establishment of pest free places of production and pest free production sites, ISPM22 - Requirements for the establishment of areas of low pest prevalence, ISPM29 - Recognition of pest free areas and areas of low pest prevalence, and other related ISPMs. Experts were tasked with conducting a thorough review of the draft guide developed by the Implementation facilitation Unit, to discuss and consider good practices and relevant resources for inclusion into the guide, and to create an inventory of case studies for the Guide.

Meetings participants made great progress in defining best practice elements and case studies to be included into the Guide. The timeline for the development of the Guide was agreed upon as were awareness raising activities to promote the outcomes of the project to a wider audience. The potential development of a future eLearning module and an international conference on PFAs, PFPPs, PFPSs, and were discussed.

The PFA Guide and supplementary resources are scheduled to be ready by the end of 2018. The outcomes of the project will be shared with the IPPC and plant health community in 2019.