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IPPC Secretariat. 2021. International Year of Plant Health – Final report. Protecting plants, protecting life. FAO on behalf of the Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb7056en

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CONTENTS

FOREWORD BY QU DONGYU, FAO DIRECTOR-GENERAL

PREFACE BY RALF LOPIAN, CHAIRPERSON OF IYPH INTERNATIONAL STEERING COMMITTEE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Contributions received

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

1. THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF PLANT HEALTH: AN OVERVIEW

Institutional background

IYPH International Steering Committee

IYPH Technical Advisory Board

Key facts

2. IYPH OBJECTIVES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

IYPH key messages

3. IYPH OUTPUTS

3.1 IYPH content and products

3.2 IYPH events and initiatives

3.3 IYPH advocates

3.4 News and media coverage wrap-up

3.5 IYPH digital report

4. LEGACY AND WAY FORWARD

4.1 Message by Jingyuan Xia, Director of FAO Plant Production and Protection Division and Secretary of the IPPC

4.2 International Day of Plant Health

4.3 Scientific review of the impact of climate change on plant pests

4.4 Youth declaration

4.5 First International Plant Health Conference

ANNEX A

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 20 December 2018

ANNEX B

Membership of IYPH Technical Advisory Board:

Membership of IYPH International Steering Committee

ANNEX C

Foreword by Qu Dongyu, FAO Director-General

In December 2018, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health. “Protecting plants, protecting life” was the IYPH slogan embodying the concept that plants are life and contribute to the health and wellbeing of people and all living beings on Earth. Plants alone provide over 80 percent of the food we eat and the oxygen we breathe, and keeping them healthy is key to securing several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Yet, plant health is increasingly at risk. Plant pests are responsible for the annual loss of up to 40 percent of food crops globally. This is especially relevant to the millions of smallholder farmers and people in rural communities who rely on agriculture as a primary source of income and see their livelihoods at risk. The climate crisis and unsustainable human activities are altering ecosystems, reducing biodiversity and creating new niches for invasive pests to thrive. Concurrently, international travel and trade that can unintentionally spread pests and diseases rapidly around the world have tripled in volume over the last decade, causing great damage to native plants and the environment.

I would like to convey my appreciation and congratulate the Government of Finland for championing this initiative for the global plant health community, as well as the IYPH International Steering Committee for their invaluable guidance in implementing the IYPH Action Plan. I would also like to extend my appreciation to all the governments and other relevant stakeholders who supported the implementation of the International Year of Plant Health.

Despite the difficult circumstances posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we succeeded in achieving the objectives of the International Year of Plant Health 2020. This report summarizes the key achievements of the Year and discusses its legacies as the international plant health community plans its future work: it helped raise global awareness of how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment and boost economic development; and catalysed an increase in the resources dedicated to plant health, triggered new partnerships and shared best practices on ways to keep plants healthy while caring for the environment. It was a collective effort involving national, regional and global actors in hundreds of events and initiatives.

Although the official Year has ended, our work will continue. Efforts for the protection for plant health are essential. For this reason, the work of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) in setting international standards and phytosanitary regulations is crucial to securing plant health worldwide.

Following the success of the International Year of Plant Health 2020, the 42nd Session of the FAO Conference in June this year endorsed the proposal by the Government of Zambia to establish an International Day of Plant Health to be celebrated annually on 12 May. The United Nations General Assembly will consider this proposal at its 76th Session.

Following the impetus created by the International Year of Plant Health, the FAO scientific review of the impact of the climate crisis on plant pests has already provided the scientific basis for IPPC future actions on assessing and managing the impacts on plant health and making the necessary adjustments to relevant phytosanitary activities. Moreover, the first International Plant Health Conference will be held in May 2022 and will bring together the global plant health community to discuss scientific, technical and regulatory plant health issues.

The International Year of Plant Health 2020 raised awareness on the fundamental role that plant health plays in achieving the SDGs. The new FAO Strategic Framework 2022–2031, and the aligned IPPC Strategic Framework 2020–2030, support the 2030 Agenda through the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.

This report will provide invaluable information on lessons learned and best practices to policymakers, researchers and other plant health practitioners in the public and private sectors, civil society, international organizations and all other stakeholders, who share my conviction that plant health is essential for the eradication of hunger and malnutrition globally.

Qu Dongyu

FAO Director-General

Preface by Ralf Lopian, Chairperson of IYPH International Steering Committee

Since 2014, national and regional plant protection organizations and the International Plant Protection Convention, together with partners from the private sector, non-governmental organizations and the research community worked tirelessly to organize an International Year of Plant Health. The intention for the IYPH was to raise worldwide public awareness on important issues concerning plant health, in particular on how plant health contributes to food security, poverty reduction and the preservation of biodiversity. We wanted to show to the public and to politicians around the world how plant health contributes to the realization of the United Nations Development Agenda, and we endeavoured to demonstrate that plant health does not only concern agriculture, but is also interconnected with environmental degradation and climate change. Our aim was to establish an understanding around the world that plant health is as important for the environment and our livelihoods as human health is to the well-being of people.

In December 2019, the IYPH was launched, and the international plant health community was set to implement an ambitious programme to promote plant health. The appearance of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, reshaped the International Year of Plant Health considerably, because travel restrictions, worldwide lockdowns and reduced physical interactions between people led to cancellations and postponements of in-person events such as trade fairs, seminars, meetings and conferences. The pandemic caused a reorientation of IYPH communication activities and channels and, for the first time ever, an international year was centred primarily on social and virtual media activities. The analytics presented in this report – that almost 500 million social media accounts had been reached and that potentially 4.4 billion readers have been accessed – are truly staggering and are an indicator of the success of these adjusted communication activities.

The IYPH was not only about communication and public awareness, it was also an opportunity to develop policies to set the tracks for addressing future challenges to plant health. The work undertaken in relation to climate change impacts on plant health will have effects on plant health policies for decades to come. The newly adopted IPPC Strategic Framework 2020–2030 identified for the first time a development agenda containing topics that should be addressed by the international plant health community in the next ten years. The promotion of plant health and its impact on sustainable food systems resulted in tangible contributions to United Nations work on food security.

The organization of an international year and the implementation of its work programme is a multi-year undertaking, which can only be achieved through cooperation with passionate and committed individuals. As the Chair of the IYPH International Steering Committee and the IYPH Technical Advisory Body, I have been lucky to be blessed with the cooperation of so many brilliant and enthusiastic professionals working together. They made the organisation of the IYPH a “walk in the park”. I would be remiss if I did not mention the determining role of FAO staff, in particular the staff of the Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention, for the successful outcome of the IYPH. They have set the bar for excellence with their dedication and professionalism.

The International Year of Plant Health has been the foundation for intensifying international cooperation and national activities for improving plant health. National, regional and international plant health authorities and stakeholders must build on this foundation and create plant health policies and structures that address the challenges of the future. This report contains elements that may be of assistance when developing these policies and structures.

Ralf Lopian

Chair of the IYPH International Steering Committee

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) Secretariat would like to recognize all experts, members of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM), governing and subsidiary bodies, as well as the contracting parties, regional plant protection organizations (RPPOs) and partners for their active participation in, and positive contribution to, the IYPH.

The Secretariat highly appreciates the efforts of the IYPH International Steering Committee (ISC) in providing guidance for implementation of the IYPH Action Plan. The Secretariat also thanks the IYPH Technical Advisory Board, which preceded the IYPH ISC and provided it with knowledge and expertise, and also helped, among others, to develop IYPH communication materials. A special thanks should also be given to the members of the IYPH Secretariat, which consisted of FAO staff from the IPPC Secretariat, the Office of Corporate Communications (OCC), the Plant Production and Protection Division (NSP) and the Partnerships and United Nations Collaboration Division (PSU).

Contributions received

The IPPC Secretariat recognizes the following contracting parties and organizations that provided financial support to the IYPH from 2015 to 2020. These contributions were essential for the IPPC Secretariat to deliver IYPH activities.

Budgeted resources for IYPH activities totalled USD 1 220 821. All activities were funded via extrabudgetary contributions received via the IPPC Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) and the IPPC allocation for China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative.

CONTRACTING PARTIES AND ORGANIZATIONS

AMOUNT (USD)

Australia

17 495

China

100 000

Finland

130 000

France

142 046

Ireland

255 172

International Seed Federation (ISF)

9 875

Kenya

10 000

Republic of Korea

298 647[1]

United States of America/North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO)

180 000

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

77 586[2]

TOTAL

1 220 821

[1] USD 40,161 will be carried over to 2022 and used for an International Plant Health Conference in 2022 or towards the International Day of Plant Health (IDPH 2022).

[2] This contribution will be carried over to 2022 and used for an International Plant Health Conference in 2022 or towards the International Day of Plant Health (IDPH 2022).

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

APHIS

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture

BBC

British Broadcasting Corporation

CAHFSA

Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency

CBC

Canadian Broadcast Corporation

CIHEAM

International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies

COAG

Committee on Agriculture

COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019

CNN

Cable News Network

CPM

Commission on Phytosanitary Measures

EPPO

European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization

Euphresco

European Phytosanitary Research Coordination

FAO

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

IDPH

International Day of Plant Health

IFAD

International Fund for Agricultural Development

IPHC

International Plant Health Conference

IPPC

International Plant Protection Convention

ISC

International Steering Committee

ISF

International Seed Federation

IYPH

International Year of Plant Health

IYPH ISC

International Year of Plant Health International Steering Committee

MDTF

Multi-Donor Trust Fund

NAPPO

North America Plant Protection Organization

NFO

Forestry Division

NPPO

National Plant Protection Organization

NSL

Land and Water Division

NSP

Plant Production and Protection Division

OCB

Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment

OCC

Office of Corporate Communications

PSU

Partnerships and United Nations Collaboration Division

SDGs

Sustainable Development Goals

TAB

Technical Advisory Board

UNRIC

United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe

UPU

Universal Postal Union

USDA

United States Department of Agriculture

USD

United States dollar

WFP

World Food Programme

1. THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF PLANT HEALTH: AN OVERVIEW

680 events
in 86 countries

Over 473 million
accounts reached
on social media

In media coverage,
potentially 4.4 billion
readers reached between
September 2019 and July 2021

1 820 plant health
related posts shared
by FAO

Over 370k views
on IYPH webpage

IYPH logo in
33 languages

45 partners

29 IYPH postage stamps,
3 IYPH coins

IYPH activity book
for children
in 14 languages

Over 1 000 submissions for the
IYPH photo contest, art and drawing
competition for children, video
contest and human-interest stories

26 youth groups joined
forces in drafting an
IYPH youth declaration

3 internationally
recognized IYPH
advocates who spread
IYPH key messages

IYPH International Steering
Committee (ISC),
18 members, 18 meetings
to advance the IYPH action plan

Despite some negative impacts on the Year’s events caused by COVID-19, we orchestrated a vibrant and effective campaign to publicize and promote plant health throughout the world.

Jari Leppä,
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland
at the IYPH Closing Ceremony on 1 July 2021

Timeline of major IYPH events

- 21 December 2018: the United Nations General Assembly declares 2020 the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH)

- 14 June 2019: First meeting of the IYPH International Steering Committee at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy

- 2 December 2019: IYPH opening ceremony at FAO headquarters as a special session of the FAO Council

- 16 and 18 March, 1 April 2021: Fifteenth Session of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures

- 1 June 2021: High-level launch event for the FAO Scientific review on the impact of climate change on plant pests

- 29 June 2021: IYPH Webinar on Food Systems and Plant Health, with over 200 participants

- 30 June 2021: IYPH Webinar on Climate Change, Plant Health and Biodiversity, with over 200 participants

- 1 July 2021: IYPH closing ceremony hosted by the FAO Director-General, with over 600 participants

- May 2022: The First International Plant Health Conference

INSTITUTIONAL BACKGROUND

In April 2016, the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM) of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) adopted the first formal initiative, proposed by Finland, to declare 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health.

Following approval of the IYPH resolution by the Fortieth Session of the FAO Conference in July 2017, the FAO Director-General informed the United Nations Secretary-General about the decision and requested that the resolution be presented at the following session of the United Nations General Assembly.

In December 2018, the United Nations General Assembly adopted unanimously the resolution A/RES/73/252, which officially declared 2020 the International Year of Plant Health (Annex A).

To support the proclamation of the IYPH, the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures established the IPPC IYPH Steering Committee in 2016, which later served as the IYPH Technical Advisory Board (IYPH TAB). The IYPH TAB served as a pool of knowledge and expertise, reviewing technical publications, assisting in the development of communication materials, acting as the programme committee for the International Plant Health Conference (IPHC), and developing the proceedings coming out of the IPHC.

On 21 December 2018, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously voted to declare 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health and mandated FAO, in collaboration with the IPPC, to facilitate its implementation.

In 2019, FAO and the IPPC Secretariat established the IYPH International Steering Committee (ISC) to guide the development and implementation of the IYPH Action Plan, to stimulate dialogue with partners, and to help mobilize political and financial support for the IYPH. The IYPH ISC had 18 members: 7 representatives from the 7 FAO regional groups, 7 alternates, 2 members of the IYPH TAB (chair and vice-chair), and 7 representatives from United Nations agencies and international organizations. Geographic and economic groups of countries, regional plant protection organizations, academia, international agricultural research organizations, civil society organizations, global farmer organizations, the private sector and resource partners were also represented in the ISC. In addition, FAO regional offices were invited to attend IYPH ISC meetings as observers. The IYPH ISC held its first meeting on 14 June 2019 at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, and met 18 times to oversee the implementation of the IYPH Action Plan.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IYPH International Steering Committee decided to extend the official IYPH until 1 July 2021.

IYPH INTERNATIONAL STEERING COMMITTEE

In 2019, FAO and the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) established the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH) International Steering Committee (ISC) when the United Nations General Assembly declared 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health. The IYPH ISC guided the development and implementation of the IYPH Action Plan, engaged in dialogue with partners and helped mobilize political and financial support for the IYPH.

©FAO/IPPC Secretariat

Membership

The IYPH ISC consisted of 18 members, including:

- 7 Permanent Representatives from FAO Regional Groups;

- 2 members of the IPPC IYPH Technical Advisory Board (chair and vice-chair); and

- up to 9 representatives from United Nations agencies and international organizations; geographic and economic groups of countries; regional plant protection organizations; academia and international agricultural research organizations; civil society organizations and global farmer organizations; private sector and resource partners.

IYPH TECHNICAL ADVISORY BOARD

In 2015, the Tenth Session of the Commission of Phytosanitary Measures (CPM-10) supported Finland’s proposal to establish an International Year of Plant Health (IYPH) in 2020. The following year, CPM-11 (2016) agreed to form an IYPH Steering Committee (SC). Following the official proclamation of the IYPH and based on a decision by CPM-14 (2019), the former IYPH Steering Committee transformed into the IYPH Technical Advisory Board (TAB).

The IYPH Technical Advisory Board took over the role of the former Steering Committee, with new tasks to produce technical publications and to assist in the development of communication materials. The IYPH TAB also served as the programme committee for the new IYPH International Steering Committee (ISC). It helped to guide the programming for the International Plant Health Conference (IPHC), scheduled to take place in 2022, and to develop the proceedings coming out of the IPHC.

Membership

The IYPH TAB consisted of up to 25 members, including:

- 1 member and 1 alternate from IPPC contracting parties in each of the seven FAO regions;

- 5 to 7 members from partner organizations, including regional plant protection organizations;

- 3 representatives from IPPC governance and subsidiary bodies; and

- 1 representative from the IPPC Secretariat.

Membership lists of the IYPH ISC and TAB are noted in Annex B.

KEY FACTS

Plants make up 80 percent of the food we eat and produce 98 percent of the oxygen we breathe.

The annual value of trade in agricultural products has grown almost three-fold over the past decade, largely in emerging economies and developing countries, reaching USD 1.7 trillion.

FAO estimates that agricultural production must rise about 60 percent by 2050 in order to feed a larger and generally richer population.

Plant pests are responsible for losses of up to 40 percent of food crops globally, and for trade losses in agricultural products worth over USD 220 billion each year.

Climate change threatens to reduce not only the quantity of crops, lowering yields, but also their nutritional value. Rising temperatures also mean that more plant pests are appearing earlier and in places where they were never seen before.

Beneficial insects are vital for plant health – for pollination, pest control, soil health and nutrient recycling – and yet, insect abundance has fallen 80 percent in the last 25–30 years.

One million locusts can eat about one tonne of food a day, and the largest swarms can consume over 100 000 tonnes each day, or enough to feed tens of thousands of people for one year.

2. IYPH OBJECTIVES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

IYPH was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to raise global awareness on how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment and boost economic development.

The IYPH highlighted the role of national plant protection organizations (NPPOs), regional plant protection organizations (RPPOs), scientific and research institutions, private-sector firms, and national, regional and international non-profit organizations in protecting agricultural production from losses caused by pests and diseases.

In addition, the IYPH promoted application of innovative, environmentally friendly approaches in combating plant pests and diseases.

The IYPH specific objectives were to:

- Raise awareness of plant health among the public and political decision makers at global, regional and national levels.

- Induce different stakeholders to contribute to the global battle against plant pests and to adopt globally recognized standards and sustainable plant protection practices.

- Increase awareness of the importance of plant health towards achieving the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda.

PLANT HEALTH DIRECTLY CONTRIBUTES TO SEVEN SDGS, NOTABLY SDG 1 (NO POVERTY), SDG 2 (ZERO HUNGER), SDG 8 (DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH), SDG 12 (RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION), SDG 13 (CLIMATE ACTION), SDG 15 (LIFE ON LAND) AND SDG 17 (PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS).

- Educate the general public and improve their knowledge of plant health and increase information about the state of plant protection in the world.

- Enhance dialogue and stakeholder involvement in plant health.

- Promote and strengthen national, regional and global plant health efforts and their resources in the light of increasing trade and new pest risks caused by climate change.

- Facilitate the establishment of plant health partnerships on national, regional and global levels.

IYPH was a successful step towards recognition, by both goverments and industry, of the plant health system that protects global food supply and biodiversity from invasive species.

Francisco Javier Trujillo Arriaga,
former CPM Chairperson

IYPH KEY MESSAGES

Keep plants healthy to achieve Zero Hunger and the Sustainable Development Goals

Be careful when bringing plants and plant products across borders

Make trading in plants and plant products safe by complying with international plant health standards

Keep plants healthy while protecting the environment

Invest in plant health capacity development, research and outreach

Strengthen monitoring and early warning systems to protect plants and plant health

PLANTS ARE THE FOUNDATION OF LIFE ON EARTH, AND ISF IS PROUD TO BE PART OF THE IYPH TO PROTECT THE WORLD’S PLANT RESOURCES FROM PESTS. THE PRIVATE SEED SECTOR ORGANIZED A NUMBER OF VIRTUAL EVENTS BRINGING THE MESSAGE OF A SUSTAINABLE WORLD WITH SUSTAINABLE AND RESILIENT FOOD SYSTEMS. THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS) IS NOT POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE CLEAR INCLUSION OF PLANT HEALTH.

Michael Keller,
Secretary-General of the International Seed Federation

3. IYPH OUTPUTS

3.1 IYPH CONTENT AND PRODUCTS

- An action-oriented campaign website, available in all official United Nations languages, provided useful information and resources to help different stakeholders from all over the world promote the Year and learn more about its scope, objectives and messages.

- To increase the impact and visibility of the Year, all partners use the IYPH visual identity in their activities and events. The IYPH logo and slogan were translated in over 30 languages with the support of FAO regional and country offices, IPPC contracting parties and numerous IYPH partners worldwide.

- People were called to share their human-interest stories on plant health to help raise global awareness of the importance of healthy plants and inspire others to take action. The IYPH Secretariat received hundreds of submissions showing how people contribute to plant health in their everyday lives as well as the damage caused by plant pests and diseases. These stories illustrated how protecting plant health can help end hunger and food insecurity, protect the environment, preserve biodiversity and boost economic development. The most powerful stories were published on the IYPH website and translated in all official languages.

- In September 2019, the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) invited its contracting parties to consider issuing a commemorative postage stamp to promote plant health and its contribution to the sustainable development agenda. All the designated operators of UPU member countries were invited to adopt the IYPH theme and contribute to the IYPH. The initiative was welcomed by a significant number of countries and, in 2020 and 2021, IYPH postage stamps were issued by 29 countries, including Finland, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the Vatican.

- As part of the Year’s outreach campaign, Belgium, Italy and Mexico minted coins commemorating the IYPH to promote plant health at national and regional levels. This achievement was possible thanks to the joint efforts of the governments, national plant protection organizations and national mints of the three countries.

- A wide range of digital and print-ready communication materials was developed to help different stakeholders promote the IYPH and spread its messages around the world. A communication toolkit was prepared in all official United Nations languages to inform governments, farmers, academia, the private sector, young people and the general public about the importance of protecting plant health to sustain life and to build a better future. The toolkit included a “Get Started” guide, videos, podcasts, graphics and animations, publications such as an activity book for children, a communication guide and an IYPH brochure summarising FAO and IPPC work with countries and highlighting specific actions different stakeholders can take to support the cause.

- In particular, the activity book for children “Healthy plants, healthy planet” was extremely successful. It was translated into 14 languages thanks to the contribution of FAO regional and country offices, plant protection organizations and IYPH partners. The book was distributed in schools and included in educational programmes to bring children and young people closer to the world of plant protection.

- An IYPH Newsletter was also established to share periodical updates regarding the main events and initiatives related to the IYPH. In total, 14 IYPH Newsletters were released by the IPPC Secretariat. Relevant podcasts and videos were also produced.

©NOOR for FAO/Pep Bonet

Science diplomacy for plant health

In August 2020, a policy paper entitled “Science diplomacy for plant health” was published by the peer‑reviewed scientific journal Nature Plants on the occasion of the International Year of Plant Health. The study analyses new perspectives and challenges on global phytosanitary research coordination and highlights the need for the establishment of a global network aiming at facilitating international research efforts on regulated and emerging pests. This global research coordination network will help overcome current limitations in phytosanitary systems and facilitate collaboration between policymakers, scientists, plant protection organizations, governments and industries.

Various creative activities were organized in many countries in Asia to celebrate the IYPH, among others the designation of the “Week of IYPH”, exhibitions, commemorative flags and stamps, stakeholder meetings, inspection site and laboratory tours, and special sessions in academic conferences for the general public, children, scientists, policymakers and, of course, plant quarantine inspectors.

Kyu-Ock Yim,
Vice-Chairperson of the IYPH International Steering Committee

3.2 IYPH EVENTS AND INITIATIVES

Hundreds of events, from exhibitions to cultural performances, contests, panel discussions and conferences, took place across the globe to mark the International Year of Plant Health. Although the COVID-19 pandemic created challenges for holding in-person events, most planned events still took place on virtual platforms. Altogether, 680 national, regional and global events were registered on the IYPH event page.

IYPH was celebrated nationally, regionally and globally through hundreds of initiatives and events.

The Closing Ceremony of the International Year of Plant Health, opened by the FAO Director‑General on 1 July, was a tremendous success uniting different stakeholders, including all three IYPH advocates, and various government ministers from around the world.

3.2.1 IYPH friends

The Friends of the International Year of Plant Health 2020 – 20 national partners, 6 regional partners, and 19 partner organizations – helped to promote worldwide awareness and action for plant health. Together, they used their influence and networks to make IYPH 2020 an international success by clearly communicating how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment and boost economic development.

The IYPH Friends spread the word through media outlets, public events and campaigns.

In January 2020, the EPPO Secretariat launched the Beastie the Bug communication campaign to share information about the importance of plant health around the world (https://beastiebug.eppo.int/)

The United States, Canada and Mexico simultaneously illuminated Niagara Falls, iconic national buildings and monuments in green to emphasize the importance of plant health.

Osama El-Lissy,
Deputy Administrator of the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine programme

The IYPH has raised awareness that controlling plant pests is important to secure food supplies and protect natural resources, and travellers can play a role as illustrated by Beastie the Bug.

Nico Horn,
Director-General,
European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO)

From Niagara Falls to the Jamie L. Whitten Building in Washington, D.C., the North America Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO) lit up a series of buildings and iconic monuments to promote plant health throughout Canada, Mexico and the United States of America.

©USDA/K. Cecilia Sequeira

The IPPC Secretariat and the FAO Right to Food team organized a joined side event at the Forty-seventh Session of the Committee on World Food Security to highlight the contribution of plant health to sustainable agri-food systems and the human right to adequate food.

©FAO

Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centres (GCIAR) organized a series of four webinars called “Unleashing the Potential of Plant Health” to discuss and promote current science in the area and to identify needs for more research and opportunities to scale existing scientific innovations.

©CGIAR

3.2.2 IYPH competitions

The IYPH Action Plan included photography, children’s art and drawing, and video contests.

IYPH 2020 PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST

Professional and amateur photographers competed to show their support of the IYPH with photographs of healthy and unhealthy plants.

The IYPH contest received nearly 700 entries from contestants worldwide. An international panel of FAO communications specialists, agricultural experts, professional photographers and photography editors judged the winning photographs in the healthy plant and unhealthy plant categories. The IYPH photo contest jurors were: Sherri Dougherty (photo editor at FAO), John Gilmore (agricultural expert at FAO/USDA-APHIS), Sara Giuliani (public information specialist at FAO/IPPC Secretariat), Adrian Houston (photographer), Mirko Montuori (IYPH Project Officer at FAO/IPPC Secretariat) and Marco Pinna (staff and picture editor at National Geographic Italia).

Judging photography categories:

Photographs of healthy plants – custodians of our air, food and water – capture the natural beauty and reflect the importance of plants as the source of the air we breathe, our food and as protectors of our environment.

Photographs of unhealthy plants illustrate pests attacking plants to show pest or disease damage. Pests are any species, strain or type of plant, animal or pathogen that damage plants or plant products. They include insects, viruses, bacteria, nematodes and invasive plants.

Prizes:

Two prizes were awarded in each category: 1) Healthy Plants, and 2) Unhealthy Plants. The first-prize winner in each category received a USD 1 000 voucher for photographic equipment as well as a certificate. The second-prize winner in each category received a USD 500 voucher for photographic equipment and a certificate. Ten honourable mentions (five per category) and two people’s choice awards (voted by social media users) also received a certificate.

First-Prize Winners:

Ciro Schiavone’s entry, The Sacred Wood, won first place in the Healthy Plants category. It shows the forest as a sacred environment due to the importance of large trees, a source of life and an object for humanity.

©Ciro Schiavone

Joseph Moisan-De Serres won first place in the Unhealthy Plants category for his photo, European skipper larvae feeding on grass, depicting three grass skipper larvae feeding on a blade of grass.

©Joseph Moisan-De Serres

Second-Prize Winners:

Vanessa Nieves Vazquez won second prize in the Healthy Plants category with Pandurata en casa, showing a new leaf on a Ficus lyrata houseplant that is reborn after a plague, Mexico City, Mexico, 2020.

©Vanessa Nieves Vazquez

Gautam Buddha Mukherji won second prize in the Unhealthy Plants category with Sigatoka Leaf Spot Disease, a photo taken at night of an edible banana leaf affected by Sigatoka fungus disease.

©Gautam Buddha Mukherji

People’s Choice Winners:

Sophie Papin. An old chestnut tree in a barley field in the Loire Valley, France, spring 2020.

©Sophie Papin

Viet-Cuong Han. Worms eating and dancing on plum (Prunus mume) leaves captured in May 2020 at Chonnam National University, Republic of Korea.

©Viet-Cuong Han

Honourable mentions:

Healthy plants

Karunakaran Parameswaran Pillai. Coconut palm, a multipurpose tree. Coconut palmtop viewed from the ground. The coconut tree (Cocos nucifera) is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae). Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.

Helin Ruus. Beach. Windy day near the sea.

Michal Slota. The harmony of nature. Leaves of insectivorous sundew (Drosera anglica). Although this tiny plant usually keeps out of human sight, it plays an important role in the biological balance of peatland ecosystems, accumulating nitrogen from captured and digested insects.

Evgeny Ivanov. Happy in the sun. A beautiful, green tree pleasing to the eye, giving all living things the oxygen we need. Nature caring for all living things on Earth.

Muhammad Amdad Hossain. Fresh childhood in the beautiful flower gardens of Bangladesh.

Vanessa Nieves Vazquez. South of Chile. Flower the artist found on a trip of much contemplation in the city of Osorno, Chile, 2017.

Marie François. Vine – Raspberry Grape.

Unhealthy Plants

Vinodkumar Selvaraj. Infected flower exhibiting artistic symptom of phytoplasma infection in half of the petals. Phytoplasma infection in chrysanthemum completely turns the floral parts into green leaf-like structures. This is a serious destructive disease, causing huge yield losses.

Joseph Moisan-De Serres. Apple maggot fly laying egg. A female apple maggot fly after laying an egg under the skin of an apple.

Oliver Meckes. Pear rust. Basket-like fruiting bodies of Gymnosporangium sabinae growing out of a pear leaf. Spores (red) are clearly visible. Scanning electron microscope, magnification 15:1 (when 12x12cm wide).

Alfonso Peña Darias. Brevicoryne brassicae. Purple cabbage with Brevicoryne brassicae, a notable aphid for cabbage species, and its natural enemy Coccinella septempunctata.

Bhupendra Singh Kharayat. Citrus canker caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri (Hasse) Vauterin, et al. Lesions on the leaves first appear as small, round, watery and translucent. As the disease progresses, the surface of the spots becomes white or greyish and finally ruptures in the centre and gives a rough, corky or canker-like appearance.

Mariano Sayno. Snail invasion. Damage to an eggplant caused by a land snail. Snails and slugs are both part of the same class of creatures called gastropods. It is a pest of many nursery plants, beans and foliage of cabbage, tomato and weeds. Eggplants are commonly attacked by these pests, which eat large amounts of the flesh of fruits as they mature.

Jose Luis Mendez Fernandez. Whitefly colony. Whitefly eggs are generally laid near each other on the host plant, usually on a leaf, in spiral patterns or arcs, or sometimes in parallel arcs.

CHILDREN’S ART AND DRAWING COMPETITION

The children of today are the citizens of tomorrow; our actions as parents, guardians and educators will help them become responsible citizens. Educating future generations about the importance of keeping plants healthy and protecting our natural resources from pests and diseases was a goal of the IYPH.

For the International Year of Plant Health 2020, children aged 5 to 13 around the world got creative and showed what protecting plant health means to them. Over 400 IYPH entries were submitted for the art and drawing competition. An international panel screened entries for children aged 5–9 and pre-teens aged 10–13 who participated in the contest. The top three winning poster designs in each category were announced at the IYPH closing ceremony on 1 July and received a gift bag and certificate.

A jury selected three winning poster designs as finalists. The jury for the IYPH art and drawing competition for children consisted of the following IPPC Secretariat members: Riccardo Angela, Arop Deng, John Gilmore, Sara Giuliani, Viivi Kuvaja, Riccardo Mazzucchelli, Mirko Montuori, Natalie Nicora and Paola Sentinelli.

First Prize: Ages 5–9

Waziha Tanaz Chowdhury. Ways of Protecting Plant Health. “The artwork shows how plant pests destroy our food. It also suggests some possible ways of protecting plant health. Good research can identify different features of pests and show what measures we can take accordingly. In addition, we can take protection and caution in seaports and airports, as we know that passengers and their luggage carry pests and insects from one country to another.”

©Waziha Tanaz Chowdhury

Second Prize: Ages 5–9

Taarinee Gupta. Insects: Blessings or Curse. “In this painting, I have tried to show that insects are both a blessing as well as a curse.

©Taarinee Gupta

Third Prize: Ages 5–9

Xiyan Qin. Bamboo locust, go fast. “One day, Panda Panpan was playing happily by the pond. Suddenly a group of terrible bamboo locusts appeared in the sky. These greedy insects almost ate up all the bamboo leaves. Panpan cried sadly looking at the gnawed bamboo leaves. Go away!”

©Xiyan Qin

First Prize: Ages 10–13

Shu-Yen (Coco) Yeh. AI-connected mini self-driving cars keep ecological vitality. “Due to climate change, travel and international trade, plant ecology is in danger more than ever! It is vital for all to recognize the problem and take actions to protect plants. As a student in love with science, I hope to design and make many AI-connected mini self-driving cars that constantly report threats (pests, diseases, fire), gather plant and ecological data in forests, and return samples to the lab for genetic analysis and archiving. If necessary, the AI system will be used to regenerate the forest. Make it ecologically vital!”

©Shu-Yen (Coco) Yeh

Second Prize: Ages 10–13

Kingston Sheng-Juei Tsai. Cicada. “The setting of the cicada has functions to prevent plants from getting hurt. First, using its eyes and satellites, it prevents the main plant from getting damaged by planting other plants that pests like more. For example, armyworm feeds on maize but also prefers rice. In this situation, it can plant rice next to the maize, so the armyworm won’t feed on the maize so much. Second, with the powerful lights from the head of the Cicada, it can shine light on the pests and the pests will possibly die. Third, it can create a high-pitched sound from its abdomen that prevents the breeding and laying of eggs. Fourth, the Cicada can educate people on how to plant different high-quality crops in less-developed countries. This setting of the Cicada creates a balance between plants and the eco-environment.”

©Kingston Sheng-Juei Tsai

Third Prize: Ages 10–13

Fernanda Rocío Zapata Gallardo. Keep calm and grow a bit. “My drawing is about a caregiver doing a daily review of plants in a greenhouse, while taking notes of their progress on a tablet. I took a literal and simple concept for my illustration regarding a graphical perspective of ‘Plant Health’.”

©Fernanda Rocío Zapata Gallardo

Honourable Mentions: Ages 5–9

Neha Thekkumpurath - We all can be the plant health saviours

Rana Hassan - Polluted environment, clean environment

Sheha Thekkumpurath - Healthy plant, healthy planet

Atrin Afshari Tavana - Plant protection, world protection

Shreya V. Samudrala - Little guardians

Guste Cesnauskaite - Insect parasite

Riaan Mashruwala - Protecting plant health

Honourable Mentions: Ages 10–13

Monojit Maity - Healthy plant makes healthy planet

Beāte Gribute - Plant life

Akshaya Padmakrishnan - Plant health in our hands only

Kasia Tyc - CARE

Laryn Au - Wishing tree

You Gi Lau - We are plant lovers

Anahita Afshari Tavana - Happiness in nature

VIDEO COMPETITION

A video competition on the theme of plant health attracted submissions from around the world. The competition was sponsored by the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) and by European Phytosanitary Research Coordination (Euphresco). All video nominations can be seen on the Euphresco web page https://www.euphresco.net/contest/.

After qualifying videos were published on 1 February 2021, jury members individually scored the entries based on two criteria: communication and originality. Additional criteria, such as social media engagement and the age of the applicants, were considered independently.

Plant Health TV – Video Contest Jury

- Anna Maria d’Onghia – CIHEAM (International)

- Peter Lafontaine – Canadian Food Inspection Agency (Canada)

- Chipiliro Kansilanga – Inter-African Phytosanitary Council (Cameroon)

- Jo Luck – Plant Biosecurity Research Initiative (Australia)

- Madeleine McMullen – European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (International)

- Sabrine Nahdi – Kef Graduate School of Agriculture (Tunisia)

- Kyu-Ock Yim – Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (Republic of Korea)

- Baldissera Giovani – European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization–Euphresco (International)

The video winner and four runners-up were announced at the IYPH 2020 Closing Ceremony on 1 July 2021.

First Prize: Sherry-Ann Brown

Sherry Ann Brown, from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of Jamaica.
Beating food scarcity: beet armyworm management in Jamaica.

©Sherry-Ann Brown

The video highlights a significant pest, the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua, affecting the production of several crops in Jamaica. Research studies were conducted to better understand the pest’s biology and a number of the strategies employed in its management. These strategies include chemical and biological control methods as well as a pest forecasting system for early detection.

Second Runners-up: Richard Buggs and Kiril Sotirovski (tied)

Ash dieback is going to have a devastating effect on the British landscape. We are doing research to understand how variants in the DNA of ash trees give some of them resistance to ash dieback. We are also asking whether natural selection is already acting to generate resistant trees in nature. This research gives us optimism about the future of ash populations in Europe.

Richard Buggs, from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Ash dieback: the devastating fungus.

©Richard Buggs

Chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica), is one of the deadliest plant diseases. In the 50 years following its discovery, the fungus killed about 4 billion American chestnut trees (Castanea dentata). The fungus is a threat for sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) throughout Europe as well. A virus that lives in the fungus can decrease its virulence and can be used to control chestnut blight.

Kiril Sotirovski, from the Saints Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia. Using a friendly virus to fight a deadly fungus.

©Kiril Sotirovsk

Third Runners-up: Irene Cabal Blanco and Patrice Pitter (tied)

The video is an introduction to the pest of Panama disease and the present methods to detect it.

Irene Cabal Blanco, from Clear Detections, Netherlands. The threats of Panama disease (Foc TR4) for banana cultivars.

©Irene Cabal Blanc

The video offers an insight into frosty pod rot disease with an overview about the disease in Jamaica, the associated symptoms, the spread, the impact, the current management practices and research activities geared at alleviating the prevalence of the disease in an effort to safeguard the country’s cocoa industry.

Patrice Pitter, from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of Jamaica. Research rescuing Jamaica’s fine flavoured cocoa: frosty pod rot management

©Patrice Pitter

3.3 IYPH ADVOCATES

The FAO Director-General appointed three advocates to champion the cause of plant health and promote the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH).

The advocates were chosen to share the ideas and goals underpinning the IYPH with their respective audiences and raise the profile of #PlantHealth and its importance to people around the world.

Each advocate used their influence to call for action and show how everyone has a role to play in protecting plants and thus the planet.

Rodrigo Pacheco is an Ecuadorian chef who is passionate about “regenerative gastronomy”, which has led him to advocate for the urgent restoration of the world’s ecosystems. Pacheco is involved in developing a “biodiversity corridor” in Ecuador running from the Pacific Coast to the Andean Choco region, crossing five different ecosystems and climate zones. The project is an evolution of his ongoing work to innovate in culinary and gastronomic sciences.

©Bocavaldivia

Rodrigo Pacheco’s respect and care for nature has caught the attention of political leaders, activists, private businesses and others who support Pacheco’s approach to living in harmony with the environment and his plan to create an edible forest.

As an FAO Goodwill Ambassador, I aim to share my knowledge and experience for a purpose that, in this case, is the regeneration of nature and the flora that surround us.

Rodrigo Pacheco

Monty Don is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s leading garden writer and broadcaster. He has been making television programmes for over twenty years on a range of topics, spanning travel, craft, outdoor living and, principally, gardening. He has been the main presenter of the BBC’s Gardeners’ World since 2003 and, since 2011, the programme has been filmed in his own garden, Longmeadow, in Herefordshire. Monty Don has also made acclaimed prime time series such as Around the World in 80 Gardens, Monty Don’s Italian Gardens and three series of Big Dreams, Small Spaces.

©Joshua Degel

A prolific horticultural journalist, Monty Don was gardening editor at The Observer newspaper, and currently contributes a regular column for the Daily Mail and BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine. His numerous books include the bestselling Fork to Fork, The Jewel Garden and his latest bestsellers Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs and Japanese Gardens: A Journey.

We have for far too long overlooked the natural world on our doorstep. There are people in their thirties or late twenties that care, and they’re going to do something about it. And we must enable them.

Monty Don

Diarmuid Gavin is an Irish garden designer and television personality who has designed many gardens throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, mainland Europe, Africa and China. He has participated in the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show nine times, winning the gold medal in 2011.

©Marsha Arnold

I am honoured and delighted to accept the role as Champion for the International Year of Plant Health for the Europe Region. I look forward to working with you to promote this vitally important issue.

Diarmuid Gavin

As a broadcaster, Diarmuid Gavin presented gardening series including Home Front, Planet Patio, Art of the Garden, Diarmuid’s Big Adventure, Gardens Through Time and Gardening Together, which air for major British broadcasters. He has authored 13 books on garden design, including the international best sellers Outdoors and Planting written with the late Sir Terence Conran. His autobiographical volume, How the Boy Next Door Turned Out, was published in 2010.

In addition to a press release announcing Monty Don and Diarmuid Gavin’s IYPH engagement, www.fao.org carried a much-read feature story where the advocates discuss the importance of plant health.

Over the months, each advocate participated in a range of activities to engage people in important matters related to plant health. They also participated in a series of dialogues that underlined the important connection between plant protection and food security with representatives from institutions, academia and civil society.

One of the first concrete operations was the production of Talking Plant Health.

British broadcaster and author Janet Ellis spoke with two of the advocates, introducing some of the themes in an accessible and straightforward manner.

Talking Plant Health was viewed by over 40 000 people on its initial release on LinkedIn and Facebook, and is now hosted on YouTube, where it garnered 1 500 views by July 2021.

On 17 February 2021, a second public event was held virtually, bringing together all three advocates along with Michael Keller, the Secretary-General of the International Seed Federation (ISF) and Ralf Lopian, the Chairperson of the IYPH International Steering Committee. The event was entitled “Plant Health starts with Seed Health”, produced by the ISF.

©Joshua Degel

Through his near-nightly Instagram talk show, Diarmuid Gavin repeatedly promoted the ideas underpinning IYPH – devoting one instalment to a session with an Irish government representative.

©National Tree Week

Diarmuid Gavin also produced a supplementary promotional video for the Irish Christmas market. Additionally, he devoted a whole show to National Tree Week and the planting of a native Irish oak tree in his garden along with an IYPH plaque. During all such activities, he made use of IYPH signage.

A national IYPH seminar was produced by the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Entitled Celebrating Ireland’s Role in IYPH, the event was chaired by the Minister of State for Agriculture Pippa Hackett, with contributions from Chief Plant Health Officer Barry Delany, IYPH Steering Committee Chairperson Ralf Lopian and Diarmuid Gavin.

©Andy Mabbett

As the International Year of Plant Health’s Goodwill Ambassador for Latin America and the Caribbean, the Ecuadorian Chef Rodrigo Pacheco has pledged to keep advocating for plant health, biodiversity and the urgent restoration of natural ecosystems. In an interview published on the IYPH website (http://www.fao.org/plant-health-2020/our-advocates/rodrigo-pachego-interview/en/) he explained what he is doing to reconnect people with nature and the importance of promoting plant health to sustain life.

Rodrigo Pacheco consistently shared sustainable recipes promoting biodiversity, raising awareness about plant pests and diseases. He also participated in dialogues addressing the important connection between plant protection and food security with representatives from institutions, academia and civil society. In addition, he took part in regional events such as Agrocalidad Ecuador’s World Food Safety Day event and the launch of the Agrocalidad food safety characters. Rodrigo Pacheco also participated in interviews about his IYPH engagement with major Spanish-language news outlets, including El Comercio, La Hora, El Universo and Agencia EFE.

©Bocavaldivia

Monty Don used his personal media activities as an opportunity to speak about IYPH at every turn including with the Daily Express, Radio Times and Horticulture Week. The same was also true for Diarmuid Gavin, who spoke about the IYPH on Today with Claire Byrne and with the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent.

Monty Don used his personal media activities as an opportunity to speak about IYPH at every turn including with the Daily Express, Radio Times and Horticulture Week. The same was also true for Diarmuid Gavin, who spoke about the IYPH on Today with Claire Byrne and with the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent.

United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC) was very supportive in publishing an interview with Monty Don. “The World is in Your Hands’ says Monty Don” was republished by UN.org. UNRIC reported great response to the story and considerable engagement on Twitter.

UNRIC also published an interview with Diarmuid Gavin, which was similarly republished by UN.org. “By protecting plants, we are protecting life – an interview with Diarmuid Gavin” was repurposed on UN.org for World Bee Day and published in Arabic, French and Russian.

Future prospects

At the time of writing in July 2021, Rodrigo Pacheco was being profiled by CNN International for his engagement on issues such as biodiversity and plant health, and will be guest editor of a CNN microsite from August to October 2021.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland recently stated they would like Monty Don to promote plant health – particularly relating to the worrying spread of the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) and the oak processionary moth (Thaumetopoea processionea).

In conclusion, the involvement of all three advocates to date has helped engage relevant stakeholders and created increased opportunities for dialogue, participation and access to information on how to ensure plant health and foster innovation for sustainable agricultural practices.

As Diarmuid Gavin said after the IYPH Closing Ceremony, “Everyone involved did their best to promote the overarching message that plant health could not be more important for the future of our planet. That message is out there now; it will continue to gain traction and the ideas underpinning the Year are ones I will continue to promote whenever, wherever I can.” These sentiments were echoed by Rodrigo Pacheco and Monty Don.

3.4 News and media coverage wrap-up

3.4.1 Coverage figures, print and online news media: November 2019 – July 2021

With over 5 520 articles detected from November 2019 to July 2021 (125 top-tier sources) in 25 languages (six official languages of the United Nations, plus Bengali, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Malayalam, Maltese, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovenian, Swedish and Thai) from online news outlets, media coverage has been impressive.

The peak in media coverage was between January and February 2020, when a total of 1 753 articles were released (see Figure 1 ). However, in August 2020, articles reached a potential 856 million readers (see Figure 2). In total, media coverage potentially reached 4.4 billion readers during the entire IYPH period.

Figure 1. Media exposure by month

Figure 2. Reach by month

The data are based on a sample of articles identified by a keyword search (IYPH and FAO).

3.4.2 Overview of media coverage

The IYPH key messages were announced in the official launch event that took place on 2 December 2019 at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, with the active participation of FAO staff members, governments, plant health experts from the IPPC community and representatives of various stakeholder groups. The IYPH key messages were highlighted on media around the world: Infobae in Argentina, El País in Spain, Yahoo! Finance in the United States of America, The Times of India, Ansa in Italy, the United Nations News Centre, Nico News in Japan, Última Hora in Paraguay, Público in Portugal, the Islamic Republic News Agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran, among others.

©FAO/G. Carotenuto

The IYPH message on how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment and boost economic development was also disseminated widely, with reports from The Reporter Ethiopia, The Times of India, La Repubblica in Italy, La Jornada in Mexico, Le Matin in Morocco, Vanguard in Nigeria, Público in Portugal, El Observador in Uruguay, WAM – Emirates News Agency in the United Arab Emirates, Forbes in the United States of America, Vanuatu Daily Post, Vatican News and many others.

In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a video message by His Royal Highness, Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales highlighting the “critical role” plants play in health and well-being received much attention. British news outlets, including the Daily Mail, Yahoo! News UK, The Argus and Oxford Mail quoted the Prince: “From every angle, plants play an absolutely vital role in our existence, but the ultimate irony is, just as we are realizing this, we have also managed to engineer a global plant health crisis”.

On a similar note, AdnKronos in Italy and Food Ingredients First in Netherlands, among others, quoted the encouraging opening speech from the FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu: “Plants provide the core basis for life on Earth and are the single most important pillar of human nutrition”, adding that “healthy plants are not something that we can take for granted” however.

Radio stations around the world, including Radio RTL in Italy, Radio Televisión Española in Spain, Radio Bambers in Germany, Radio Santa Fe in Colombia, among others, dedicated airtime to the key messages and events of the IYPH. A number of podcast series recorded episodes dealing with the impact of plant health, including podcasts from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Agence Science Presse, CBC Listen, Radio24 in Italy and the BBC.

3.5 IYPH digital report

The partnership between the FAO Office of Corporate Communications (OCC), the FAO Agriculture Department — since renamed the Plant Production and Protection Division (NSP) — and the IPPC Secretariat started in late 2019, prior to the launch of the IYPH.

To promote the Year, FAO produced a series of multilingual videos, which outlined what the general public, farmers and agribusinesses, governments and the private sector can do to protect plant health.

An animated video, Can you imagine a life without plants?, was promoted many times over the Year and across all FAO social media channels in all languages. Between December 2019 and July 2021, the video received nearly 250 000 cumulative views (105 700 on Twitter, 64 000 on LinkedIn, 32 000 on Facebook, 13 800 on Instagram and 13 900 on YouTube).

In addition, a multilingual Curtain Raiser video was produced with an external company specifically for the launch of the IYPH campaign. It received over 2.8 million cumulative views.

All videos are available on a dedicated IYPH playlist on FAO’s YouTube channel.

Since the launch, IYPH content was promoted on official FAO social media channels in the six official languages and was made available via the dedicated Trello Board managed by OCC. It was shared with FAO country offices and United Nations System organizations. Some of the content was also translated into Farsi, Japanese and Portuguese, and is available on Trello board.

Social media highlights are presented in chapter 3.5.2.

3.5.1 Key web highlights

The IYPH website had 157 000 users and 374 000 page views between the launch of the website in December 2019 and the preparation of this report in July 2021. Visitors spent an average of 2:08 minutes on the IYPH website. The IYPH website and all the related events were extensively promoted on many pages of fao.org, and was always featured on the FAO homepage for the duration of the Year.

The IPPC website hosting information regarding the ISC had more than 50 000 visits in the period between 1 November 2019 and 5 July 2021.

Figure 3. This figure shows the number of visitors on the IYPH website by month. The website recorded important peaks after the launch in January, February and March 2020, and again across the World Food Day campaign during September and October 2020.

Figure 4. This figure shows the sources of traffic to the IYPH website. Almost 53% of traffic was direct, 28% was organic and 13% was from social (Facebook 46%, Twitter 41%, LinkedIn 10%).
Note: In some cases, traffic coming from social media mobile apps that have restricted privacy settings cannot be accurately measured by the Google Analytics tool, and those sources are partially recorded as “direct”.

Figure 5 shows that web traffic was particularly high for “new visitors” (71%) visiting the IYPH website for the first time.

Figure 5. This pie chart provides the percentage share of “new visitors” and “returning visitors” on the IYPH website during the overall period from the launch in December 2019 to July 2021.

Figure 6 shows the regional breakdown of traffic to the IYPH website. Cumulative traffic from Europe is the highest with 35% of users, followed by Asia with 29% and the Americas with 23%. There were significant peaks from specific countries: India (11%), United States of America (9%), Philippines (6%), Australia (6%). The top 10 countries are listed in the figure.

Figure 6. This chart shows the traffic on the IYPH website by continent and by country during the overall period from the launch in December 2019 to July 2021.

3.5.2 Key social media highlights

OCC promoted all IYPH content in the six official languages across all official channels.

By 14 July 2021, 1 820 plant health posts were shared via FAO’s multilingual social media accounts. The Organization was mentioned nearly 29 200 times by other social media accounts and had the opportunity to be seen by over 473 million social media accounts in their feed.

Note: Data are drawn from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Due to API limitations from LinkedIn, TikTok, Weibo and WeChat, these services are not currently being monitored.

Figure 7. This figure provides the total number of posts on FAO and IPPC accounts related to IYPH. Data drawn from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Figure 8. This figure provides the number of retweets by other accounts of FAO and IPPC posts related to IYPH. Data drawn from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Figure 9. This figure provides the cumulative potential reach of FAO/IPPC posts related to IYPH. The reach is high in December 2019 due to a paid campaign on Facebook for the launch video and the support received from the main United Nations account. The reach had a peak also in August 2020 thanks to the support received from the English- and Spanish-language United Nations Facebook accounts, which shared an animated video on the IYPH and a video on the four actions to support plant health. There was also a significant peak in December 2020 due to the large number of posts published by official FAO accounts that were picked up by other major outlets. June 2021 saw another high peak caused by mentions from accounts with large followings, such as China Xinhua News (91 million followers). Data drawn from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

©FAO/Joan Manuel Baliellas

4. LEGACY AND WAY FORWARD

The legacies of the International Year of Plant Health constitute an important perpetuation of the work of the IYPH. The legacies are long-term follow-up efforts to raise awareness and to enhance preventive, concrete action to protect plant health.

The IPPC Strategic Framework 2020–2030

Adopted by the Fifteenth Session of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures as one of the IYPH key legacies, the IPPC Strategic Framework 2020–2030 sets new priority actions and programmes the global plant health community will focus on over the next decade. The strategic framework identifies three IPPC core activities, namely standard setting, implementation and capacity development, and communication and international cooperation, as well as three strategic objectives of the Convention:

- enhancing global food security and increasing sustainable agricultural productivity;

- protecting the environment from the impacts of plant pests;

- facilitating safe trade, development and economic growth.

The IPPC development agenda 2020–2030 recognises eight priority programmes to protect global plant resources and to facilitate safe trade. These new strategic areas include: the assessment and management of climate change impacts on plant health; the harmonization of electronic data exchange through the IPPC ePhyto Solution; the development of commodity- and pathway-specific standards; e-commerce, postal mail and courier pathways management; the development of guidance on the use of third-party entities; the development of a global pest outbreak alert and response system; global phytosanitary research coordination; and diagnostic laboratory networking.

IYPH 2020 has put much needed limelight on the role of plant health in sustainable food systems, safe trade and safeguarding agricultural biodiversity. It catalysed dialogue between multi-stakeholders on ways to deal with present challenges and future risks due to climate change scenarios, secured commitments from policymakers to strengthen national biosecurity strategies, and enhanced capacities to alleviate the debilitating impacts of pests on agriculture and the well-being of smallholder communities in sub-Saharan Africa. It fostered new partnerships and scope for learning from each other’s experiences.

Lava Kumar,
Head of Germplasm Health, Virology and Diagnostics,
Institute of Tropical Agriculture

4.1 Message by Jingyuan Xia, Director of FAO Plant Production and Protection Division and Secretary of the IPPC

Reflecting on the key achievements and legacies for the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH) 2020, I am very proud to have been the Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Plant Production and Protection Division, and Secretary of the IPPC during this campaign.

©FAO/G. Carotenuto

I would like to convey my heartfelt appreciation to all stakeholders who contributed to making the IYPH 2020 a success, and especially to Ralf Lopian, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland, the Chairperson of the IYPH International Steering Committee. Without his vision and leadership, the multilateral efforts to declare the International Year of Plant Health in 2020 may never have come to fruition. Six years in the making and despite a global pandemic, he led and championed international action to extend the IYPH by six months into 2021, and reaped the fruitful success of global advocacy in favour of plant health awareness.

The achievements of the IYPH were possible thanks to strong support from countries, as well as from relevant private-sector stakeholders, who played a prominent role in the IYPH International Steering Committee, and from the celebrity IYPH advocates. Academia and research also played a fundamental role in the success of the Year, contributing to the publication of the Scientific review of the Impact of Climate Change on Plant Pests: A global challenge to prevent and mitigate plant pest risks in agriculture, forestry and ecosystems. Successful legacies of the IYPH also include the art, drawing, photography and video competitions for civil society and the Youth Declaration on Plant Health. It is not possible to envisage the IYPH without the involvement of younger generations. Consequently, the IPPC Secretariat convened youth groups from around the world to develop a Youth Declaration on Plant Health in order to build on the legacy of the IYPH.

I am grateful to FAO and the IPPC community for the extremely enthusiastic support, both in terms of financial resources and through their hard work and dedication, which made a wide variety of advocacy initiatives possible.

The closure of IYPH should not be seen as the end, but rather the beginning of continuous, ongoing awareness of plant health issues. Efforts are underway to have the United Nations declare an official International Day of Plant Health, to be commemorated yearly on 12 May.

My sincere gratitude to the millions of social media users who engaged with the invaluable work of IYPH champions, communicators, stakeholders, planners, organizers and teams that successfully achieved global awareness of plant health, which is crucial to feeding and clothing the world and meeting FAO SDGs.

Jingyuan Xia,
Director of FAO Plant Production and Protection Division

4.2 International Day of Plant Health

At the Twenty-seventh Session of the FAO Committee on Agriculture (COAG), the Government of Zambia proposed the establishment of an International Day of Plant Health (IDPH) to be observed by the international community on 12 May each year. The proposal was endorsed unanimously by COAG in October 2020, as well as by the FAO Council and Conference, respectively in December 2020 and July 2021. FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu forwarded the FAO Conference resolution to the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres for its final endorsement at the Seventy-fifth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in December 2021.

The establishment of an International Day of Plant Health is one of the many effective ways to continue promoting healthy plants within the international agenda, advocating for greater engagement by all stakeholders. The IDPH would mark the success of the IYPH and strengthen IYPH key messages and achievements. FAO Director-General stated he was proud of the successful achievement of IYPH objectives, despite the difficult circumstances:

“FAO will continue [...] to advance the legacies of the International Year of Plant Health, in support of achieving better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life – leaving no one behind. Plant health,” he concluded, “is fundamental [...] for life.”

The IDPH would contribute to the FAO Strategic Framework 2022–2031, as well as provide steady input to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The International Day of Plant Health recognizes the considerable importance that governments, international organizations, civil society and the private sector place on the topic. The process to establish the International Day of Plant Health has seen great enthusiasm and engagement from all parties involved. The FAO Committee on Agriculture, the Council and Conference endorsed the proposal made by the government of Zambia unanimously, and the IPPC Secretariat is prepared to lead the way towards renewed and ongoing engagement on plant health issues to enhance global food security and increase sustainable agricultural production, protect forests and the environment, and facilitate safe trade development and economic growth.

The International Day of Plant Health, a legacy of the IYPH championed by Zambia, shows how African leadership in promoting plant health can help transform agri-food systems and eliminate hunger and malnutrition.

Elsa Simões,
Deputy Permanent Representative to FAO, IFAD and WFP,
Cabo Verde

4.3 Scientific review of the impact of climate change on plant pests

Climate change is seriously affecting the entire world, and plants are among the organisms seriously damaged by it. Our food security, health and entire lives depend on healthy plants. It is high time to invest more human and financial resources on plant health research. The FAO scientific review on the impact of climate change on plant pests is very timely and calls for urgent attention on this topic.

Professor Maria Lodovica Gullino,
lead author of the FAO scientific review on the impact of climate change on plant pests,
University of Turin, Italy

The IPPC Strategic Framework 2020–2030 includes assessing and managing the impact of climate change on plant health as one of the development agenda items to be addressed by the global plant health community over the current decade.

The mitigation of this impact will present a major challenge to national plant protection organizations (NPPOs) and international organizations working in plant health. International trade policies and phytosanitary measures will need careful evaluations and refinements to address climate change response strategies. The resulting changes in plant health, such as climate change induced changes in pest epidemiology and frequent expansion of pest distributions, will provide challenges especially in areas such as surveillance, monitoring and other phytosanitary measures, as well as pest risk analysis. The risk of pests adapting to a changing climate may cause new pest risks to major staple crops. Therefore, it is important to forecast, prevent and mitigate the effects of climate change on plant health.

To this end, the IYPH 2020 Action Plan included a focus on the significant impact that climate change can have on the dispersal and epidemiology of pests and diseases. The IYPH International Steering Committee commissioned a scientific review to explore how climate change impacts insect pests and diseases such as fall armyworm, desert locust, banana fusarium wilt and potato late blight.

The review puts forward recommendations to prevent and mitigate plant pest risks in agriculture, forestry and ecosystems. It also contributes to enhancing science-based discussions on how to assess and manage the impact of climate change on plant health.

The review was published, along with a summary for policymakers, at a high-level virtual launch event on 1 June 2021, with opening remarks from FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu. Permanent representatives from Zambian and Finnish ministries for agriculture and forestry also delivered keynote speeches.

This scientific review is primarily addressed to the plant health community and decision makers, including government officials, legislators and politicians. The review provides a scientific basis for assessing and managing the impact of climate change on plant health in phytosanitary policy planning and legal frameworks.

In addition, the review offers an opportunity to enhance international dialogue and to raise awareness on the growing impact of climate change and the risks it poses to plant health and, consequently, to the attainment of the 2030 Agenda. The results and recommendations of the review can also enhance adequate human and financial resources to deal with pest emergencies and to forecast, prevent and mitigate the impacts caused by climate change on plant health.

The evidence assessed in the scientific review strongly indicates that climate change has already expanded some pests’ host range and geographical distribution, and may further increase the risk of pest introduction to new areas. Increased international cooperation and development of harmonized plant protection strategies are crucial to help countries successfully adapt their pest risk management measures to climate change.

The review was conducted by lead author Maria Lodovica Gullino (University of Turin, Italy) and ten external experts from all FAO regions: Ramon Albajes (Spain), Ibrahim Al-Jboory (Iraq), Francislene Angelotti (Brazil), Subrata Chakraborty (Australia), Karen A. Garrett (United States of America), Brett Phillip Hurley (South Africa), Peter Juroszek (Germany), Khaled Makkouk (Lebanon), Xubin Pan (China) and Tannecia Stephenson (Jamaica). It went through an external peer-review process that involved FAO staff at the IPPC Secretariat, the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment (OCB), the Land and Water Division (NSL), the Forestry Division (NFO) and the Plant Production and Protection Division (NSP).

- Full report: https://doi.org/10.4060/cb4769en

- Digital report: http://www.fao.org/3/cb4769en/online/cb4769en.html

- Summary for Policymakers: https://doi.org/10.4060/cb4777en

- Webcast of the high-level launch event: http://www.fao.org/webcast/home/en/item/5544/icode/

EUPHRESCO-CIHEAM has advocated for the establishment of a global phytosanitary research coordination network to advance the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The scientific community also calls for urgent action to mitigate the impact of climate change on plant pests as outlined in the FAO scientific review.

Anna Maria d’Onghia,
Head of the Knowledge Unit on Precision Crop Protection,
International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM)

4.4 Youth declaration

The IYPH ISC commissioned an IYPH youth declaration as an important legacy of the Year. The idea driving the declaration was to bring young people together to express their views on how healthy plants contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to develop ideas for concrete actions to achieve plant health globally and to raise awareness of the topic.

The Youth Declaration was prepared by young people and for young people in order to ensure empowerment and youth ownership of the initiative. In December 2020, the IYPH Secretariat launched an open call for expression of interest to allow interested youth groups to take part in the declaration drafting process. Altogether 26 organizations responded to the call, forming the drafting committee that developed the approach and format of the Declaration. The youth groups had backgrounds in themes relevant to plant health, such as agriculture, biodiversity and climate change, but also to the wider context of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.

The IYPH Youth Declaration includes suggestions for concrete actions to safeguard healthy plants globally in seven thematic areas:

1. the connection of plant health to climate change, food security and One Health;

2. biodiversity, sustainable agriculture and pest management;

3. Indigenous peoples and local communities that offer plant protection strategies;

4. people vulnerable to risks and their significance in maintaining plant health;

5. global phytosanitary regulations, responsible economic growth and trade;

6. strengthened plant health education, capacity-building and development;

7. redirecting capital flows, funding and mobilization of the private and public sectors to support healthy plants.

The Youth Declaration is addressed to young people, the general public, the plant health community, politicians, legislators, government officials, media, academia and research institutes, and national and regional plant protection organizations.

The Declaration was published along with an open letter on the IPPC website, and was presented at the IYPH Closing Ceremony on 1 July 2021. Organizations and individuals can support the initiative by signing the declaration at https://www.ippc.int/en/declaration/youth-declaration/.

The IPPC Secretariat prepared a promotional video with the youth groups involved to promote the declaration on social media.

The IYPH Youth Declaration drafting committee was composed of the following organizations:

- Agriwin Company Ltd

- Baho Nanjye Mbeho Company Ltd

- “El Estuario” project

- Forestry & Citrus Research Company (FACIR)

- Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN)

- Habitat World

- International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Youth Network (IYN)

- Jamaica 4-H Clubs

- Lipu – Birdlife Italia (Lega italiana protezione uccelli)

- Réseau National des Jeunes Ruraux pour le Financement Inclusif de l’Entreprenariat Rural (RJRFIER)

- Rwanda Youth in Agribusiness Forum (RYAF)

- “Save Our House” project

- SDG 2 Constituency, Major Group for Children and Youth

- Stewardship Agribusiness Incubation Center (SAIC)

- Talent Upgrade Global Concept

- The Institute of Genetics, Physiology and Plant Protection (IGPPP) of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova; Center of Plant Protection

- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Major Group for Children and Youth

- University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Agriculture

- WHYFARM

- World Food Forum – powered by global youth

- World Food Programme (WFP) Youth Network

- Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD)

- Youth Alliance for Zero Hunger

- Youth Committee of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

- Youth in Landscapes Initiative (YIL)

- Youth Sensitization, Development in Agropastoral and Marketing Cooperative Society (YOSDAMAC)

The IYPH Youth Declaration can be accessed here: https://www.ippc.int/en/declaration/youth-declaration/#a.

4.5 First International Plant Health Conference

The first International Plant Health Conference (IPHC) was scheduled to take place in Helsinki, Finland, from 28 June to 1 July 2021, but was cancelled due to ongoing travel restrictions and public health risk posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. In agreement with host country Finland, the IYPH International Steering Committee made the decision to reschedule the IPHC, and recommended that the first International Plant Health Conference take place in the week of 12 May 2022, to coincide with the first International Day of Plant Health.

To pave the way to the conference, the IYPH International Steering Committee decided to organize a series of thematic webinars, kick-started by the launch of the Scientific review on the impact of climate change on plant pests on 1 June 2021. The event was followed by other two webinars on 29 and 30 June 2021, which focused on the importance of plant health for food systems, and the interconnections between plant health, biodiversity and climate change.

Webinar participants highlighted the importance of including plant health considerations and the IPPC international standards in food security dialogues within FAO and the United Nations Food Systems Summit. They also stressed the importance of plant health in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its relevance to the One Health approach.

With climate change now creating the conditions for plant pests and diseases to thrive in places where they were not previously present, participants highlighted the importance of evaluating the impact of climate change on plant health on a regular basis, especially in relation to pest risk analysis and global surveillance issues. They also reiterated that phytosanitary issues should be adequately reflected in the international climate change debate under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. With regard to biodiversity, it was stressed in particular that international cooperation between biodiversity-related conventions should be increased.

Both webinars gathered hundreds of participants and were registered as independent dialogues for the United Nations Food Systems Summit, with the webinar results helping to inform the Summit. Two more webinars are planned for October and December 2021, the first focusing on plant health and remote sensing, and the latter focusing on plant health and the SDGs.

The global community will and must understand that our health and well-being does not depend on the occurrence and spread of a single harmful organism, such as the coronavirus, but on environmental health and biodiversity in general.

Jari Leppä,
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland
at the Fifteenth Session of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures

©FAO/Luis Tato

ANNEX A

RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON 20 DECEMBER 2018

[on the report of the Second Committee (A/73/544)]

73/252. International Year of Plant Health, 2020

The General Assembly,

Reaffirming its resolution 70/1 of 25 September 2015, entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, in which it adopted a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative Sustainable Development Goals and targets, its commitment to working tirelessly for the full implementation of the Agenda by 2030, its recognition that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, its commitment to achieving sustainable development in its three dimensions — economic, social and environmental — in a balanced and integrated manner, and to building upon the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals and seeking to address their unfinished business,

Reaffirming also its resolutions 53/199 of 15 December 1998 and 61/185 of 20 December 2006 on the proclamation of international years, and Economic and Social Council resolution 1980/67 of 25 July 1980 on international years and anniversaries, in particular paragraphs 1 to 10 of the annex thereto on the agreed criteria for the proclamation of international years, as well as paragraphs 13 and 14, in which it is stated that an international day or year should not be proclaimed before the basic arrangements for its organization and financing have been made,

Noting that healthy plants constitute the foundation for all life on Earth, as well as ecosystem functions and food security, and are key to sustaining life on Earth,

Recognizing that plant health is key to the sustainable development of agriculture to feed the growing global population by 2050,

Recognizing also that sustaining plant health protects the environment, forests and biodiversity from plant pests, addresses the effects of climate change, and supports efforts to end hunger, malnutrition and poverty and boosts economic development, and that the protection of plant health from pests is a key factor in strategies to eliminate hunger and rural poverty,

Stressing the urgent need to raise awareness of and to promote and facilitate actions towards the management of plant health in order to contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda,

Trusting that the celebration of an international year would encourage actions to promote and implement activities in favour of preserving and sustaining global plant resources and raise awareness of the importance of plant health in addressing issues of global concern, including hunger, poverty and threats to the environment,

Recalling resolution 5/2017 adopted on 7 July 2017 by the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations at its fortieth session, held in Rome from 3 to 8 July 2017,

1. Decides to declare 2020 the International Year of Plant Health;

2. Invites all Member States, organizations of the United Nations system, other international and regional organizations and civil society, including non-governmental organizations, individuals and other relevant stakeholders, to observe the International Year, as appropriate, through activities aimed at raising awareness of the importance of plant health and the economic, social and environmental impact of plant health on food security and ecosystem functions, and to share best practices in this regard;

3. Invites the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in collaboration with the International Plant Protection Convention, mindful of the provisions contained in the annex to Economic and Social Council resolution 1980/67, to facilitate the implementation of the International Year;

4. Stresses that the cost of all activities that may arise from the implementation of the present resolution should be met from voluntary contributions;

5. Invites all relevant stakeholders to contribute to and support the International Year;

6. Requests the Secretary-General to bring the present resolution to the attention of all Member States, the organizations of the United Nations system and civil society organizations for appropriate observance.

62nd plenary meeting
20 December 2018

ANNEX B

MEMBERSHIP OF IYPH TECHNICAL ADVISORY BOARD

NAME

COUNTRY/ORGANIZATION

Kenneth Kajarayekha MSISKA

Zambia

Abdoulaye Moussa ABDERAMAN

Chad

Kyu-ock YIM

Republic of Korea

Ralf LOPIAN

Finland

Christine HERMENING

Germany

Álvaro SEPÚLVEDA LUQUE

Chile

Ryan ANSELM

Dominica

Pauline EID

Lebanon

Gamil Anwar Mohammed RAMADHAN

Yemen

Heather CURLETT

United States of America

Viliami KAMI

Tonga

Lois RANSOM

Australia

Nico HORN

European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization

Lucien KOUAME KONAN

Côte d'Ivoire

David KAMANGIRA

Malawi

Jesulindo NERY DE SOUZA JUNIOR

Brazil

Dominique PELLETIER

Canada

Dennis JOHNSON

International Seed Federation

Craig FEDCHOCK

FAO IPPC Secretariat

Membership of IYPH International Steering Committee

NAME

COUNTRY/ORGANIZATION

Ralf LOPIAN

Finland

Kyu-ock YIM

Republic of Korea

Elsa SIMÕES

Cabo Verde

Phyllis MENDS

Ghana

Bommakanti RAJENDER

India

Muhammad SUHAIL MUHAMMAD

Malaysia

Aulikki HULMI

Finland

Sam BISHOP

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Junior ESCOBAR Fonseca

Nicaragua

Rebeca CUTIE CANCINO

Cuba

Gustavo MOSTAJO OCOLA

Peru

Sadia Elmubarak Ahmed DAAK

Sudan

Keva MCKENNIREY

Canada

Sean COX

United States of America

Maria Adelaide DʼARCANGELO

United States of America

Ruth MALLETT

Australia

Don SYME

New Zealand

Anna Maria DʼONGHIA

International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies

Pedro Ignacio GALLARDO BARRENA

Copa-Cogeca Working Party on phytosanitary issues

Michael KELLER

International Seed Federation

Rolando ALCALA

World Trade Organization

Roman VAGNER

DG SANTE, Plant Health Unit at the European Commission

Shane SELA

World Bank

Juliet GOLDSMITH

Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency

Camilo BELTRAN

Comunidad Andina

Cristina GALEANO

Comité de Sanidad Vegetal

Nico HORN

European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization

Jean-Gerard MEZUI MELLA

Inter-African Phytosanitary Council

Stephanie BLOEM

North American Plant Protection Organization

Mekki CHOUIBANI

Near East Plant Protection Organization

Ernesto MEDINA

Organismo Internacional Regional de Sanidad Agropecuaria

Visoni TIMOTE

Pacific Plant Protection Organization

ANNEX C

PRODUCTS TO PROMOTE IYPH ON SOCIAL MEDIA AVAILABLE IN THE IYPH TRELLO BOARD

https://trello.com/b/3Q6b26IO/international-year-of-plant-health

COMMUNICATION PRODUCTS TO PROMOTE THE IYPH AVAILABLE IN THE COMMUNICATION TOOLKIT

http://www.fao.org/plant-health-2020/communication-toolkit/en/

https://digital-assets.fao.org/home/action/browseItems?categoryId=136804&categoryTypeId=2&cachedCriteria=1