SECTOR

BPCA recently attended the Global Pest Management Coalition meeting in Miami Beach, which coincided with World Pest Day and the GPMC's Global Public Health & Food Safety Summit.

Delegates from Pest Management Associations across Europe, North and South America, North Africa, and Asia came together, highlighting the global collaboration in pest management.

Members of the coalition shared how each country was celebrating and recognising World Pest Day, including setting up formal press conferences, social media marketing campaigns, and working with members to share a united message of the industry's importance.

Other items discussed include further engagement with the World Health Organisation on vector-borne diseases and an update on the GPMC's Sustainability Working Group, which BPCA's Natalie Bungay sits on.

World Pest Day around the world

ANCPUAC (Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Panama)
Hosted a multi-day event to celebrate and recognise the importance of World Pest Day.

ADEPAP (Catalonia)
Held a formal press conference to discuss the importance of pest management and its role in protecting public health.

Maldives and Sri Lanka
Organised a beach cleanup to promote community support and environmental protection.

France
Set up two separate media opportunities to communicate the value and importance of pest management.

AD3P (Morocco)
Utilised NPMA media assets and shared a video outlining the importance of pest management.

BPCA (UK)
BPCA ran a digital forum for World Pest Day, which attracted over 200 participants worldwide.

CEPA (Europe)
Conducted media outreach and shared information to enhance public awareness of World Pest Day and highlight the role of pest management professionals as protectors of public health.

At the Global Summit
The summit featured a diverse range of topics, ensuring that all aspects of pest management were thoroughly explored.

The schedule included:

• Professor Faith Oi, on the biotic and abiotic factors influencing pest distribution
• Fernando Petri, Royal Canin, a division of Mars Petfood, on pest risks in the food manufacturing process
• Hakan Kjellberg, Anticemex on using and interpreting remote sensing data
• Marc Aubry, Ecolab and Daniel Baldwin, Hawx Pest Control on navigating the complexities of pest management in food processing and distribution
• Grant Welton, PepsiCo, on pest management in hospitality
• Earl Arnold, AIB on pest management from an auditor's perspective
• Claudia, Riegel, Director, City of New Orleans Mosquito, Termite and Rodent Control Board on the city-wide approach to pest management
• Professor Coby Schal on pest-associated biocontaminants to human health impacts
• Natalie Bungay, BPCA and AJ Treleven, Sprague Pest solutions, on Environmental Sustainability.

Natalie said:

"The highlight for me was the session on the City of New Orleans approach to pest management, initiated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding suffered by the city.

"This led to an integrated city-wide approach to pest management with increased monitoring, identification of 'hot spots' and coordinated control measures to achieve maximum impact".