SPOTLIGHT: Bridging plant health policy implementation gaps

It all starts with healthy plants. Healthy plants are crucial for life on land, particularly in agriculture and crop production. Healthy plants are essential for achieving several international and regional ambitions such as some of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC)’s vision of minimizing the spread and negative impacts of plant pests as well as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s Strategic Framework (2022–2031) to transform agrifood systems to become more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable.

In his article titled Bridging plant health policy implementation gaps, in Frontiers, a leading science publisher, Osama El-Lissy, former IPPC Secretary, provides a policy outlook on the importance of combining science, technology, and a critical mass of skilled plant health workers to ensure plant health, significantly reduce the impact of crop pests and diseases and make tangible progress towards achieving key global goals. He highlights the value of developing and International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs), producing tools to help countries implement the ISPMs, such as e-learning courses on topics like pest risk analysis and surveillance and empowering countries to detect plant pests and diseases of regulatory, economic, and environmental significance in an effective and timely manner, using scientific evidence, digital tools, proactive planning, and systematic execution.

Read the article here.