REPORT OF THE TWENTY-FIFTH SESSION OF THE ASIA AND PACIFIC PLANT PROTECTION COMMISSION
27 to 31 August 2007
Beijing, China
The twenty-fifth session of the Asia and Pacific Plant Protection Commission (APPPC) was held in Beijing, China from 27 to 31 August 2007. Forty-four (44) delegates from 18 member countries of the Commission, namely, Australia, Cambodia, China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam attended the meeting. Two delegates from Japan and 4 USDA representatives from APHIS attended as observers. There were 15 observers from China. There were also representatives from the CAB International (CABI), International Rubber Research and Development Board (IRRDB) and the Pesticide Action Network (PAN). The list of participants is attached as Annex I.
The Chairperson of the Organizing Committee opened his speech by extending his warmest welcome to
the delegates of the 25th session in Beijing, China. He then introduced the distinguished guests, H.E. Mr
Wei Chaoan, Vice Minister of Agriculture, People's Republic of China, Dr Peter Kenmore, Chief of
Plant Production Service (AGPP) FAO Rome, concurrently Secretary to International Plant Protection
Convention (IPPC) and Executive Secretary of the Rotterdam Convention, Mr Wang Fujia, Deputy Director of
General Office of Agriculture, People's Republic of China, Ms Victoria Sekitoleko, FAO Representative in
China, Mr Udorn, Chairperson of the
24th session of APPPC, Mr Wang Shoucong, Deputy Director-General
of Department of Crop Production, the Ministry of Agriculture of the P.R. China and
Mr Piao Yongfan, Plant Protection Officer, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP), and concurrently
Secretary to the Asian and Pacific Plant Protection Commission. He also mentioned the officials and experts from the
18 member countries, along with the guests from FAO, CABI, representatives of ministries and
commissions concerned, i.e. General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the State
Forestry Administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, delegates of plant protection departments of related
provinces, Autonomous Regions and Municipalities directly under the Central Government Administration,
Special Administration Region of Macao and friends from media representatives of China.
Dr Xia stressed that plant protection played an important role in the social and economic aspects in China. Three key areas of interest associated with membership of the Plant Protection Agreement for the Asia and Pacific Region were plant quarantine, integrated management of pesticides and management of harmful organisms. This five day Conference will present an opportunity to further the understanding of the progress and development of plant protection work of the APPPC member countries over the past two years.
In conclusion, Dr Xia, on behalf of the Organizing Committee, thanked the FAO RAP for their support, along with the Secretariat of APPPC for their valuable guidance, and all of the members of the Organizing Committee for their hard work. He ended his speech with sincere wishes to the delegates for a pleasant stay in Beijing, China.
The outgoing Chairperson of the 24th session of the APPPC, Mr Udorn Unahawutti from Thailand expressed profound appreciation and thanks to the Government of the People's Republic of China and FAO, Bangkok for co-hosting the Commission session. At the same time, he recorded his thanks to the Executive Secretary of the APPPC for the excellent arrangements made for the meeting.
Mr Udorn reported that over the past two years, the APPPC had achieved considerable progress with its objectives of regional cooperation in IPM, Pesticides Management and Plant Quarantine. Some of the more important activities included:
He also took the opportunity to thank the Republic of Korea for the provision of financial support, and the hosting of the Regional Technical Consultation on Draft ISPMs in 2006 and 2007.
Regarding the issue of South American Leaf Blight (SALB), FAO had approved the technical cooperation project for APPPC to organize workshops on the preparation of pest risk analysis for SALB. Two such workshops were successfully held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This led to the approval for additional funding for a study mission to Brazil from 28 August to 25 November 2005, and collaboration with PRA experts in New Zealand in March 2007. The final PRA report was completed after the workshop on the review of the PRA held in Bangkok from 18 to 19 July 2007, and this was submitted to this Session for deliberation and acceptance.
On the subject of regional pesticides management and IPM activities, technical assistance was provided by Sri Lanka, Thailand and Pakistan for the development of a national implementation plan for the Rotterdam Convention. This involved three regional experts from the FAO expert panel on pesticide management who contributed to the development of the global harmonization of pesticide management.
Regional vegetable IPM programmes continued to make remarkable achievements with the extensive collaboration with participating countries. Technical backstopping services were provided to several countries to deal with emerging pest issues, such as the brown plant hopper and the coconut beetle.
In conclusion, Mr Udorn thanked the Vice Chair countries and the Chairs of the three Standing Committees for their support and dedication to the APPPC. He hoped that this meeting of the delegates would be meaningful and fruitful, and the conclusions and recommendations would prove to be beneficial to all the countries in this region.
The FAO representative in China, Ms Victoria Sekitoleko, on behalf of the Director-General of the FAO of the United Nations, welcomed the delegates to Beijing for the biennial session of the FAO Asia and Pacific Plant Protection Commission (APPPC). She expressed her gratitude to the Government of China for hosting this 25th session of the Commission, and thanked the session organizing committee.
Ms Sekitoleko then highlighted some of the activities of the APPPC, focusing on the phytosanitary issues, especially phytosanitary measures needed to protect plant resources from those introduced. She mentioned that two regional standards, namely the Drafts RSPM No. 5 and No. 6, developed over the last two years, would be discussed later in the meeting. Also of importance was the work by the Secretary of the Commission in setting up of a regional information system for the APPPC in line with the International Phytosanitary Portal (IPP).
There was an expression of concern over a significant number of problems pertaining to the proper management of hazardous pesticides in the region, despite the progress made to improve pesticide management in line with the "International Code of Conduct". Further efforts would be made by the FAO in the forging of partnerships and capacity building for the effective implementation and enforcement of this Code of Conduct.
The disquieting features in the plant protection systems of individual countries were then mentioned. Recommendations for the further strengthening of organizational structures would be necessary. It was also expected that a number of recommendations would be made with special priority by this Session of the Commission, within the overall context of achieving sustainable agriculture. Delegates were requested to convey to their respective national authorities, the importance of pursuing the deposition of the instrument of acceptance of the amended version of the Agreement as soon as possible. Ms Sekitoleko concluded her speech by wishing the delegates a successful meeting.
In his welcome address, Dr Kenmore congratulated members of the 25th session of the APPPC on their working together for more than 50 years. He noted that over the past two years, there were intensified efforts on the development of standards, the development of a PRA for SALB and participation for the development of phytosanitary measures. While the present positive trend was encouraging, there was much to be done, including the need to persuade the remaining countries who have yet to ratify the 1983 Revisions to the APPPC to do so.
Dr Kenmore described the progress made in terms of pesticide risk reduction, particularly regarding two outstanding events. Firstly, there was the instruction from the FAO Council to promote the banning of highly hazardous pesticides, and secondly, that China had agreed to be the host of the CODEX Committee. In his capacity as Co-Chairperson of the Rotterdam Convention, he announced that at present, 16 member countries of APPPC were now parties to the Convention, including China, the largest producer of pesticides. He also praised Thailand for the initiative on the notification of endosulfan. He hoped that member countries would benefit from Rotterdam Convention event of this Session with discussions to reduce highly hazardous pesticides.
Regarding IPM, Dr Kenmore noted that Asia was the world's model for IPM work and this had been extended successfully to other continents. Over the years, IPM had led to some instances of national policy reform. One prominent example was undertaken by India, with the imposition of an excise tax on the manufacture of pesticides. This subsequently led to a 35 percent reduction of pesticide usage, and a steady increase in crop production. He asked other countries to consider models such as this.
In conclusion, he hoped that delegates would implement the outcomes of the meetings of the Standing Committees and plenary session, with the hope of the generation of strong decisions and development of good models. He looked forward to adopting the ideas from this Session for general improvement of agriculture in Asia and the rest of the world.
The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, People's Republic of China warmly welcomed the delegates to China. On behalf of the Chinese Government, he also thanked the FAO for the support in the organization of the meeting.
Mr Wei then gave a brief outline on the status of agriculture in China, noting the role of China as the leading producer of many major commodities. China had also made great progress, from being a deficit producer to a surplus producer of agricultural produce. The present emphasis was on involvement in plant protection at the regional level, which was viewed as critical to increasing crop production and farmers' incomes.
The Vice Minister believed that the overall increase in the problems relating to pest management were the result of global warming, changes in the agriculture system and the increased volume of agriculture trade. To overcome these challenges, infrastructure for the monitoring and control of pests has been enhanced. A new plant protection system is already established, with a plant protection agency operating at national and township level, providing both generalized and specialized services. There is also an emergency response mechanism in place to handle endemic and quarantine pests. This system has been effective in reducing incidental and harmful impact of pests, and has contained the spread of quarantine pests. China was proud to announce increases of agriculture production over the past three years, and was expecting a fourth consecutive increase this year with due credit to improved crop protection.
China continued her commitment to areas of plant protection such as the involvement in the organization of activities related ISPMs and RSPMs. These activities had helped develop the pest free area concept for the apple moth and fruit fly, and had enhanced the work on PRA.
In conclusion, Mr Wei promised full assistance to the delegates, and wished them a complete success of the meeting.
China was elected Chairperson of the
25th session of the APPPC.
The countries elected as Vice-chairpersons were:
India, Malaysia, New Zealand and Thailand
New Zealand was elected Chairperson of the Drafting Committee.
The other members were:
China, Malaysia, Philippines and Sri Lanka
The draft agenda and timetable were unanimously adopted.
