History
Since 1981, the ISPVE has been held every three years as part of the activities of the International Committee for Plant Virus Epidemiology (ICPVE), a subcommittee of the International Society of Plant Pathology (ISPP). ISPP and ISPVE were initiatives by Prof. Mike Thresh (1930-2015), from the University of Greenwich, UK, and a world reference in plant virus epidemiology. Since its creation, the ICPVE has held fifteen international symposia in different parts of the world: Oxford, UK (1981); Corowa, Australia (1983); Orlando, USA (1986); Montpellier, France (1989); Bari, Italy (1992); Jerusalem, Israel (1995); Almeria, Spain (1999); Aschersleben, Germany (2002); Lima, Peru (2005); Hyderabad, India (2007); Ithaca, USA (2010); Arusha, Tanzania (2012); Avignon, France (2016); Seoul, South Korea (2019); and Madrid, Spain (2022).
Motivation
In recent decades, crops of all types have been affected by disease epidemics caused by viruses and bacteria transmitted by arthropods, whose populations are influenced by a series of factors: (i) climate change, which affects rainfall and temperatures and, consequently, alters the behaviour of phytopathogen vectors and the incidence and severity of diseases; (ii) the constant expansion of agricultural areas, with the consequent reduction of forested areas, which has led to the loss of natural habitats and reduction of biodiversity, drastically affecting life on Earth; (iii) intensive monocultures with increasingly narrow genetic bases and the indiscriminate use of pesticides, which favor the emergence of more resistant populations of vectors and phytopathogens; and (iv) the irrational use of land and water. These factors, altogether, have led to the emergence of new phytopathogens and epidemics.
Target Audience
Throughout the symposium, students, businessmen, professors and researchers, companies from the productive sector, cooperatives, agricultural resellers, teaching and research institutions, consultants, farmers and enthusiasts in general will gather.
In addition to the direct damage to producers caused by virus epidemics, the emergence of new viruses and more resistant and aggressive plant pathogens transmitted by vectors has been an obstacle to global economic development, affecting all links in the agriculture production chain, including the international exchange of plant material and, consequently, food security.