The International Day of Plant Health 2022: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Abstract

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH), a "once in a lifetime opportunity to raise global awareness on how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment, and boost economic development." By a sad coincidence, the IYPH was upstaged by a major human health crisis, the emergence and global spread of Covid 19. Many of the planned activities were disrupted or delayed into the following year. Nonetheless, the extended campaign attracted good media coverage and raised awareness of the importance of healthy plants. One legacy was establishment of an International Day of Plant Health (IDPH) to be held every year on May 12th. This article is based on a Virtual Webinar marking the first IDPH in May 2022. The two hour programme, entitled Plant Health Innovation for Food Security, was introduced by Beth Bechdol, FAO Deputy Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). She set the scene with a short but impactful promotional video, World of Plants (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmPAwiIK2BU) including the messages, "Your life relies on mine, I am plants I am life", leading to the slogan Protecting plants, protecting life.