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CABI joins FAO at International Year of Plant Health 2020 launch

This week saw the launch of the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH) 2020 by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). CHAP partner CABI, was represented by Executive Director, Global Operations Dr Ulrich Kuhlmann, at the launch event in the FAO’s Rome headquarters. He joined a special session, with a high-level panel of global plant health experts, in which he highlighted CABI’s role in helping to secure the world’s food security, for example, through its global Plantwise programme.

Plantwise helps farmers increase their yields by providing advice on how to improve the health of their crops and deal with plant health problems. It works closely with national agricultural advisory services as part of a global plant clinic network, run by trained plant doctors. It is supported in five countries by CHAP’s International Pest Horizon Scanning project (pictured), which has provided tablets to help diagnose problems and track pests and diseases.

Programmes such as Plantwise are expected to continue to play a key role in IYPH, which is being led in collaboration with the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), including raising awareness of the importance and impacts of plant health in addressing world hunger, poverty, threats to the environment and economic development.

Dr Kuhlmann said: “Plant health is facing a number of challenges, from plant pests and diseases, to poor soil health and water scarcity, which is why the UN has declared 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health in order to raise awareness of these issues.”

CABI’s attendance at the launch of IYPH 2020 comes as it is prepares to launch the first Plant Health, Agriculture & Bioscience Conference (PHAB 2020) which will be held on 9-11 September, 2020 in The Hague, the Netherlands. The event is being run in collaboration with Koppert Biological Systems and Wageningen University.

PHAB 2020 is now accepting proposals and abstracts before the deadline of January 8th 2020. For more details or to submit a proposal, go to phab2020.com

If you have any questions about working with CHAP on a specific project, please contact us at enquiries@chap-solutions.co.uk