Overview and FAO contribution

The protection of plants from pests is a relatively wide area, linked in many ways to a number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and highly relevant for such global issues as fighting hunger and ensuring food security, economic development and the protection of environment. It covers plants cultivated in agriculture but extends to all other plants that can be threatened, damaged or destroyed by pests, e.g. in forestry, aquaculture, and private and public places, gardens, parks and more.

Pests are naturally occurring organisms that support their lives using plants. In human-transformed ecosystems, natural defense functions are reduced, which creates conditions favourable for the development of some organisms at the expense of others, often plants. 

Because plants provide us with food, wood, fibers, oils, dyes and many other materials, substantive damage caused by pests is not acceptable. It is the task of plant protection to minimize pest-related losses and prevent economic damage. In some cases, where the threats are extreme, the objective is to eradicate pests totally.

Plant protection encompasses several thematic areas, which differ from one another but also have a little in common. Depending on the specifics of the pest populations in question, the following two main areas can be identified:

• phytosanitary matters (or plant health matters);
• pest control

Modern approaches to crop protection combine various methods of pest control (agrotechnical, selection of tolerant/resistant cultivars, biological pest control, chemical pest control, etc.) to protect the crops at the minimum costs to the environment. Awareness of pest control methods that are alternatives to the use of chemicals is still insufficient. It is extremely important to share this knowledge so that integrated methods of plant protection become more commonly used.

Phytosanitary matters are dealt with by which are public institutions in charge of implementing the national legal framework in the area reflecting the provisions of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). It is important to build awareness of the importance of plant health issues and make sure that adequate resources are allocated to NPPOs for their work.;

These aspects have been among the key objectives of the International Year of Plant Health 2020 declared by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

We all can contribute to the protection of the territories of our countries from pests – e.g. by refraining from bringing home plants (including fruits, vegetables or seeds) from other countries, because these may carry dangerous pests that not always can be visually detected. We also can notify our NPPO about the presence of unusual pests damaging plants. 

FAO has been supporting the enhancement of plant protection-related systems in the countries of Europe and Central Asia. The specific scope of the support may differ depending on the priorities set by governments and usually may relate to phytosanitary systems or to pest control in agriculture or forestry.

Some projects are strictly plant protection-oriented, with a focus on the enhancement of national systems, such as phytosanitary systems (relating to obligations in international trade under the IPPC), systems for the sustainable use of pesticides, such as integrated pest management, or systems for pesticide management (authorization, marketing, quality control). A separate category includes projects on systems for the control of transboundary pests, such as locusts or wheat rusts. 

Other projects have wider scopes and focus on the whole production systems for individual crops or categories of crops, where protection from plant pests is one of the aspects necessary for a comprehensive approach to the subject of the project. Although important for all plant production systems, this is especially relevant for plants for planting (such as seeds, nursery stock or seed potatoes), which usually undergo official certification for their quality and freedom from pests, or for horticultural crops (e.g. fruits or vegetables), which often require intensive protection from pests.

Regarding projects related to forest health in the region, the focus is on improving the resilience of forest ecosystems to the introduction and spread of invasive species and native pest outbreaks and the implementation of phytosanitary systems in the forest sector.

Implementation partners for FAO projects may vary, but they usually include line ministries, research, extension services and farmers’ representatives. Where phytosanitary systems fall within the scope of activities, national plant protection organizations should be involved, while for policies on pesticide management, representatives from the pesticide industry may need to be invited to cooperate. Environmental agencies also may be involved, as appropriate.