First IPPC Seminar promotes International Year of Plant Health

As part of a new policy the new IPPC Secretary Mr Jingyuan XIA has established the practice of holding regular IPPC seminars to communicate important IPPC plant health topics to staff of the IPPC and FAO. The first seminar was organized on the 24th of June and Mr. Ralf LOPIAN presented a lecture covering efforts with regard to the proposed International Year of Plant Health in 2020 (IYPH 2020) and as well as other future challenges for the IPPC. Preliminary plans for the organization of the IYPH 2020, its objectives, outputs and programmatic content were presented. FAO staff from other divisions welcomed the information provided and specific comments were made in relation to communication efforts. It was stressed that the promotion of an IYPH 2020 would require especially compelling and convincing communication efforts.