First Virtual Meeting on Red Palm Weevil Management Programme in Near East and North Africa

17 November 2020, Cairo - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO) hosted today the first regional Tele-meeting for nominated National Focal Points of the Red Palm Weevil (RPW) programme in the NENA region on Tuesday 17 November 2020. NFP from 12 countries met to support planning, coordination and implementation of the FAO Project on Red Palm Weevil Management. The meeting was attended by representatives from FAO national offices in NENA countries, NENA regional and sub-regional Plant Protection Officers in addition to technical officers and specialists from FAO Headquarter and the Regional office for the NENA Region and RPW Project Consultants.

The meeting presented an overview of the status, scope, objectives, expected results and work plan of the FAO regional programme, the meeting discussed the role and requirements from the nominated national focal points, and presented a brief on the status of RPW in Tunisia and Yemen. The next meeting of the National Focal Points will take place on Tuesday, 22 December 2020. It will include an update on the baseline data required from countries, a training session within the capacity building programme and briefs on the status and efforts to combat the RPW in Iraq and United Arab Emirates.

The Red Palm Weevil is a serious transboundary pest of date palm, coconut and ornamental palms and is among the world's major invasive pests that attacks around 50 palm species worldwide causing widespread damage to date palms and other plantations and impacts production, farmer livelihoods and the environment. The FAO programme addresses the gaps in RPW management in three thematic areas: technology transfer, research and capacity building. FAO project has developed projects focussing in areas of RPW monitoring and early detection, farmer participation and control technologies, socio-economic impact, phytosanitary systems, border protocols and production of certified propagation material.