The 2017 IPPC Regional Workshop for Africa successfully Held in Lomé Togo

IPPC 2017

The 2017 IPPC Regional Workshop for Africa was held from 11 - 13 September 2017 in Lomé, Togo, with presence of 22 participants from 14 different contracting parties in the region. The workshop was jointly organized by the IPPC Secretariat, the Regional Plant Protection Organization (RPPO) for Africa, the Inter-African Phytosanitary Council, and the National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) of Togo. The workshop was opened by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Water Resources of Togo, Nèmè Bali and the Director of the NPPO of Togo, Atsu Tagba. Damas Mamba Mamba (Democratic Republic of the Congo) was elected Chair of the workshop, and Ephrame Tumuboine (Uganda) and Kodjo Assogba (Togo) were elected as the respective English and French Rapporteurs. The IPPC Secretariat representative Leanne Stewart recalled the theme of the workshop of plant health and trade facilitation, and highlighted the overall aim of the workshop; to strengthen the phytosanitary capacities of contracting parties towards effective enforcement of internationally harmonized standards for phytosanitary measures.

The objectives of the workshop were to analyze and provide comments on draft ISPMs currently under consultation, including the International movement of cut flowers and foliage (2008-005), Requirements for the use of fumigation treatments as a phytosanitary measure (2014-004), and 2017 Amendments to ISPM5 (Glossary of phytosanitary terms) (1994-001). The workshop updated participants on recent IPPC activities including ISPM14 and the ''Beyond Compliance'' tool, a FAO and IPPC monitoring and evaluation initiative related to emerging issues in plant health, the IPPC Call on Phytosanitary Treatments, the benefits of the Phytosanitary Capacity Evaluation tool (PCE), the ePhyto project, sustainable funding, and the International Year of Plant Health for 2020.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Regional Office for Africa (FAO RAF) representative Reda Amezrou presented on the detection and official reporting of the presence of the Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) to FAO RAF. He discussed Fall armyworm emergency response initiatives and support mechanisms implemented by African countries through partnerships with the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) and the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR) International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.

Flaubert Nana Sani, representing the RPPO IAPSC updated participants on on-going IAPSC activities, emerging plant pests in the region, and upcoming capacity development activities being organized.

The 2017 IPPC Regional Workshop for Africa report will soon be available at the IPPC Regional Workshops webpage. All specific presentations are available on the 2017 IPPC Regional Workshops presentations webpage.