IAPPS NEWSLETTER

Number XI      November, 2004

NEWS UPDATE FROM THE OCEANIA REGION

The New Zealand Biosecurity Institute met in Rotorua from July 21-23, with the theme of "Biosecurity for Biodiversity", and included papers from New Zealand, Australian and Japanese speakers on developments in approaches to dealing with Alien Invasive Species in the region, their impacts on biodiversity, and productive ecosystems (http://www.biosecurity.org.nz/). New Zealand and Australia, as islands with sensitive ecosystems, and a high degree of isolation from many pests and diseases, have a world leadership role to play in this area. Several speakers noted that the global nature of invasive species means that a regional approach is exactly what is needed. The use of web sites such the one provided by the Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), based at Auckland University (http://issg.appfa.auckland.ac.nz) is a useful resource, where 100 invasive species are listed. On the ground, education and training for land managers are also very important, and the challenge is to connect these levels of specialist- generalist and geographic scale usefully into a functional holistic system.

The New Zealand Plant Protection Society is holding its 57th annual conference in mid-August, covering a range of topics (http://www.hortnet.co.nz/publications/nzpps/). The refereed proceedings from previous meetings (1994-2003) are on the web, and these papers will follow in a few weeks. Themes this year include Integrated Pest Management, Bioprotection, Horticultural & Arable Pathology, Biosecurity, Horticultural & Arable Entomology, Forestry & Agrichemicals, Weeds, and Insects in Pasture.

The International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO) is holding its latest meeting on "Forest diversity and resistance to native and exotic pest insects" from 10-13 Aug. 2004, Hanmer Springs, New Zealand. This satellite meeting is also looking at recent incursions of exotic organisms and their impacts, in a number of countries.

The XXII International Congress of Entomology is being held in Brisbane Australia from 15-21 August, (http://www.ccm.com.au/icoe/home/default.htm) and an excellent turnout is expected, covering a wide range of themes of interest to many people. A web site indicating all the published pheromones and other insect attractants is also available (www.pherobase.com), which can be useful for pest managers, researchers, and many others.

Dr. Max Suckling, FRSNZ
Scientist & Commercial Leader
BioProtection
Tel (64) 03-325 6609 Mob 0275 845 839
E-mail: msuckling@hortresearch.co.nz
www.pherobase.com

BCPC NEWS

BCPC website goes multilingual

BCPC, the organizer of the XVI International Plant Protection Congress (IPPC) to be held in Glasgow, October 15-18, 2007, has upgraded its website to include multilingual functions. Logging onto any website can be confusing at the best of times, but if you are looking for important information about an organization, or details on a forthcoming event or seminar and the website is not in your native language, you may not want to look any further.

Recognizing that its BCPC website attracts many overseas visitors, and spurred on by the fact that its annual flagship event, Crop Science and Technology attracts over 2,200 visitors a year from over 70 countries, BCPC now offers a translation of its website at www.bcpc.org, into nine different languages. The selected languages: Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, German, Italian, French, Spanish and Korean, were chosen to cover the majority of visitors to the site and attendees at BCPC events. To activate the translation, visitors to the site will need to click on the country flag of choice on the home page and wait a few seconds for the translation to appear.

"We recognized that we had a world-wide audience in the crop production industry but we were not making life that easy for those wanting information or to register on-line for one of our events and Seminars," explained Mr. Chris Todd, managing director of BCPE. "There may be the occasional anomaly in the translations but we hope that this goes a long way to making life easier for the many people around the world that are interested in BCPC and its activities."

New seminar programme for BCPC event in Glasgow

The world renowned, annual BCPC gathering of the international crop production industry has a new format for 2004. A series of highly topical, in-depth and complementary seminars will be held at the SECC, Glasgow, UK from 1 to 3 November 2004. This new-style event will alternate with the BCPC International Congress which will return in 2005. And whilst the format is different, the event is designed to be as extensive as last year's Congress and to attract an even wider audience.

"The seminars will focus on three challenging themes," explains Mr. Chris Todd, managing director of BCPC. "These are: Food issues which include food safety, health and well-being; Water and the Environment; and Crop Production and Protection which includes minimizing inputs and biotechnology regulation. Delegates will be able to pick and choose which seminars they sign up for over the three days. In addition there will be poster presentations on display from researchers working in the areas relevant to the seminar themes."

As Dr Terry Clark, program committee chairman explains, "This new format is a bold and exciting adventure and will focus on hot topics both from a scientific and political perspective. Two areas of great political debate and of enormous scientific challenge which will be focused on are GM and its regulation around the world, as well as the concept of minimizing chemical inputs with the view to lowering risk to consumers and the environment. Invited expert speakers will cover these, and all other topics, in depth. Delegates will be encouraged to question, challenge and contribute to the issues after each presentation."

"A completely novel feature is the involvement of the EC Research Directorate General from Brussels, Belgium. This seminar, to be run throughout Wednesday 3 November, cuts across all the seminar themes. The aim is to disseminate the research results from the ten, top-class projects supported by the Fifth Framework Program (FP), whilst also detailing the opportunities available to academia and research under the Sixth FP. These opportunities are open not only to Europeans, but also for researchers from other countries wishing to collaborate with European colleagues," advises Dr Clark.

"Two seminars will address the key concerns of safety and health in the food arena and should appeal to everyone in the food chain, from farmer through to supermarket personnel and onto the consumer. Sustainable water is core to our existence but how this fits in with sustainable agriculture will depend on where you live in the world. Globally, water has different values and international speakers at this seminar will review the current situation and consider the impact of legislation on delivering sustainable water alongside sustainable agriculture within the EC," concludes Dr Clark.

With only a few months to go before the event, interested delegates should register early to benefit from early bird registration fees. Full details the seminars programme, how to register and book accommodation can be found now on the multi-lingual BCPC Seminars website at www.bcpc.org/seminars2004/

For further information please contact:
Frances McKim, BCPC Press Manager,
Foxhill, Stanford on Soar, Loughborough, Leicestershire. LE12 5PZ, UK.
Tel +44 (0) 1509 233219, Fax +44 (0) 1509 211932
E-mail: edpress@bcpc.org
www.bcpc.org

The IAPPS Newsletter is published by the International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences and distributed in Crop Protection to members and other subscribers. Crop Protection, published by Elsevier, is the Official Journal of IAPPS. IAPPS Mission: to provide a global forum for the purpose of identifying, evaluating, integrating, and promoting plant protection concepts, technologies, and policies that are economically, environmentally, and socially acceptable. It seeks to provide a global umbrella for the plant protection sciences to facilitate and promote the application of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach to a the world's crop and forest ecosystems. Membership Information: IAPPS has four classes of membership (individual, affiliate, associate, and corporate) which are described here. The IAPPS Newsletter welcomes news, letters, and other items of interest from individuals and organizations. Address correspondence and information to: Dr. Manuele Tamo, Editor IAPPS Newsletter Biological Control Center for Africa, IITA-Benin 08 B.P. 0932 Tri Postal, Cotonou, Republic of Benin E-mail: m.tamo@cgiar.org