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 The
EMPRES Programme
Upon taking office in January 1994, the
Director-General of FAO decided that the Organization
should be better focused in championing the goal of
enhanced world food security and the fight against transboundary
animal diseases and plant pests, as outbreaks of such
diseases or pests can result in food shortages, destabilise
markets and trigger trade barriers. Thus he sought and
obtained the mandate of the Governing Council and Conference
to establish two new Special Programmes to address these
fundamental issues.
The first is the Special Programme on
Food Security and the second is the Emergency Prevention
System (EMPRES) against transboundary animal and plant
pests and diseases. Thus, EMPRES is a programme with
two components: the plant pest component focuses on
the desert locust, while the animal diseases component
focuses primarily on rinderpest but also on 5 other
epidemic diseases.
For the Programme as a whole, the Director-General
has established a high-level EMPRES Steering Committee
which is chaired by himself and consists of heads of
key Departments (Assistant Directors-General) and Divisional
Directors. For the animal diseases component (hereafter
referred to as EMPRES-Livestock Programme, for simplicity),
FAO has established a management unit within its Animal
Health Service (AGAH) - i.e. the Infectious Diseases-EMPRES
Group - to be responsible for implementation of the
programme, including liaison with the Joint FAO-IAEA
Division (AGE) in Vienna for some of the functions sub-allocated
there.
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