Beastie the Bug was created as a communication campaign initiated by the EPPO Secretariat for the International Year of Plant Health 2020 based on a mascot symbolising an invasive pest.
Numerous specimens of this mascot were distributed across the EPPO region and participants were invited to post a picture of themselves with Beastie on this website with a short personal message related to plant health before passing it to someone else. The International Year of Plant Health was extended until 1 July 2021 due to the postponement of some key initiatives caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Beastie carried on travelling up to 1 July 2021. Despite travelling restrictions associated with COVID-19, Beastie the Bug visited 40 countries and travelled more than 420 000 km across the globe. On this website, you can view the all the pictures (more than 700!) with their associated story and maps of Beastie’s travels.
The Beastie Twitter account had more than 1 400 followers and posted more than 1 500 tweets raising awareness on a number of pests, research projects, official activities of NPPOs, etc. Short videos assembling pictures of the campaign are also available here
Plant Health Champions
The EPPO Secretariat warmly thanks all the participants in this campaign. Congratulations to the specimens that travelled the most: they are the bugs initially sent to the NPPOs of Canada, the United Kingdom and Poland!
