17 Jan 2020 Hunters’ role in combatting African swine fever highlighted at high-level international conference in Berlin
Brussels, 17 January 2020 – Today, the European Commission is organising the high-level international conference “The future of global pork production under the threat of African swine fever” in Berlin (Germany) as part of the 85th Berlin International Green Week.
The conference is set to discuss the unprecedented spread of African swine fever (ASF) worldwide, which requires effective collaboration of all relevant stakeholders. In Europe, hunters are key players in wild boar management and have a vital role to play in combatting the spread of ASF.
The conference will be opened by Stella Kyriakides, EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety and Julia Klöckner, Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture of Germany.
In the panel discussion dedicated at improving collaboration and the future of global pork industry, Dr. David Scallan, Secretary General of FACE, will promote best practice cooperation and communication between hunters, farmers and authorities in monitoring and fighting ASF. He will also highlight FACE’s ‘ASF Recommendations’ for hunting associations and hunters. Janusz Wojciechowski, EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, will intervene on the same subject.
Due to the recent spread of ASF in Poland towards the German border, Mr. Jarosław Kuczaj from the Polish Hunting Association (Polski Zwiazek Lowiecki) and FACE Vice President for Poland will be attending the conference to promote the need for increased cooperation in eradicating ASF. The German Hunting Association (Deutscher Jagdverband) will be present to highlight the increasing risk of ASF spreading to Germany. Ministers from a number of countries, international organisations and important global stakeholders will also attend the conference.
The future of global pork production and therefor food security is under the threat from this devastating disease. In this context, the conference aims to promote coordinated actions to reduce the impact of ASF.
The agenda of the conference is available at this link.