Preliminary pages

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