Suchergebnisse

An examination of efforts to place the issue of internally displaced persons (IDPs) on the agenda of the Commission on Human Rights contends that the skill of Francis Deng, Walter Kalin, & Roberta Cohen was critical in avoiding the political division & animosity that commonly accompanies internal human rights issues. Attention is given to the importance of building consensus, avoiding needless politicization, developing an appropriate normative framework for response, & fostering effective institutional arrangements. The need for a more reliable system for providing IDPs with protection & assistance is discussed. Adapted from the source document.

Global trade of plants and plant products facilitates the international movement of pests. The introduction of new pests in an area may have huge economic consequences for local plant production, and should be avoided. The European Union (EU) imports large quantities of fresh fruit from all over the world, which could be a pathway for exotic pests. This review aimed to identify pests not yet present or regulated in the EU that may enter the territory with the fruit trade and damage fruit production in Europe. Pests of Vaccinium (blueberry), apple, grape, orange and mandarin were screened to assess the likelihood of their being associated with these fruit, their impact, their geographical distribution, whether they are intercepted in trade and whether they are spreading or emerging. They were further ranked to produce alert lists of 30 to 36 pests for each fruit species. These lists are presented as well as other findings on contaminants and newly introduced pests. Datasheets on those pests were prepared and are available as supporting information to this article as well as in the EPPO Global Database (https://gd.eppo.int/). This work within the EU project DROPSA aimed to raise the awareness of importers and regulatory authorities to the potential risk of introducing pests with the fruit trade.

PRATIQUE is an EC-funded 7th Framework research project designed to address the major challenges for pest risk analysis (PRA) in Europe. It has three principal objectives: (a) to assemble the datasets required to construct PRAs valid for the whole of the EU, (b) to conduct multi-disciplinary research that enhances the techniques used in PRA and (c) to provide a decision support scheme for PRA that is efficient and user-friendly. The research will be undertaken by scientists from 13 institutes in the EU and one each from Australia and New Zealand with subcontractors from institutes in China and Russia. They will produce a structured inventory of PRA datasets for the EU and undertake targeted research to improve existing procedures and develop new methods for (a) the assessment of economic, environmental and social impacts, (b) summarising risk while taking account of uncertainty, (c) mapping endangered areas (d) pathway risk analysis and systems approaches and (e) guiding actions during emergencies caused by outbreaks of harmful organisms. The results will be tested and provided as protocols, decision support systems and computer programs with examples of best practice linked to a computerised European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) PRA scheme.