- Public Discussion Forum
-
- Plant Pathology and
- GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY
-
- Monday 25 August 2008
- 19:30 - 22:00
- Lingotto Conference Centre, Torino, Italy
-
- Organized by ISPP's Task Force on Global Food
Security
- as part of the
- 9th International Congress of Plant Pathology
-
-
- THE ENORMITY OF THE PROBLEM
-
- During
the World Food Summit in Rome in 1996, Heads of States proposed to halve the
number of undernourished people by 2015. In the ensuing 10 years, virtually
no progress has been made towards this goal.
-
- ·
More than 800 million people do not have adequate food
- ·
1.3 billion live on less than $1 a day
- ·
At least 10% of global food production is lost to plant disease
- Plant
pathologists cannot ignore the juxtaposition of these figures.
-
- Virtually
all undernourished people live in the developing countries of Asia, Africa
and Latin America. Hunger and poverty are inextricably linked and the
solution does not rely on one factor, but on an interrelated complex of
factors that includes population, technology, policy and social changes.
-
- Nevertheless,
it is clear that reducing the impact of plant disease can help to alleviate
the enormity of the problem of achieving global food security. A
vast number of plant pathogens from viroids of a few hundred nucleotides to
higher plants cause diseases in our crops. Their effects range from mild
symptoms to catastrophes in which large areas planted to food crops are
destroyed. Plant diseases threaten our food supplies: adequate resources
should be devoted to their control.
-
- What
are the options for managing plant diseases to improve food security?
-
- Six different aspects will be addressed.
-
- ·
PETER SCOTT, International Society for Plant Pathology; RICHARD STRANGE,
Birkbeck College, University of London
- ISPP
and the challenge of food security
- ·
GURDEV KHUSH, World Food Prize Laureate, University of California Davis
- Why plant diseases matter to food security
- ·
HARRY EVANS, JIM WALLER, CABI
- Globalization and the threat to biosecurity
- ·
JAMES BROWN, John Innes Centre, Norwich
- Diversity
in plant varieties as a cornerstone of global food security
- ·
FLORENCE
WAMBUGU, Africa Harvest Biotech
Foundation International; DAVID BAULCOMBE, University of Cambridge
- GM as a new tool in the resistance toolbox
- ·
CORRADO CLINI, Global Bioenergy Partnership
- Concluding remarks
-
- These
presentations will be followed by a general discussion to which all are
invited to contribute.
|
