The Global Plant Council is a coalition of 28 national, regional, and international organizations representing plant, crop, agricultural, and environmental sciences across the globe. We aim to promote plant science across borders & disciplines, supporting those involved in research, education, and training, and to increase awareness of plant research in science and society. Our goals are to:
- Facilitate the development of the plant science community to help members around the world contribute to global responses to a growing range of challenges relevant to the plant sciences;
- Foster international collaborations, and enable the effective use, uptake, and dissemination of knowledge and resources;
- Provide an independent and inclusive forum to bring together all those involved in plant and crop research, training, education, and public outreach.
To further these goals the GPC communicates daily with researchers, practitioners, educators, policymakers, and the general public using a range of platforms and online tools tailored to different audiences.
In 2019-2020 our focus was to:
- Further develop our communication strategy with younger scientists through the Early Career Researcher International Network (ECRi) and by creating a presence on Instagram.
- Raise global awareness about how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment, and boost economic development by supporting the United Nations International Year of Plant Health.
- Make communication with sponsors, member organisations and individuals in those organisations more dynamic through reshaping our web site and expanding our social media presence beyond Twitter and Facebook to include platforms such as Weibo, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
- Develop links with organisations and sponsors with an interest in building bridges between plant sciences and social sciences in recognition of the need for interdisciplinary approaches required to address global challenges.
The general GPC strategy for 2020-2021 will be to continue to
- publish daily plant science stories and further develop our general social media strategy
- support ECRs and the #PlantSciJobs actions
- support member organisations to promote plant science
- increase the disciplinary depth of the GPC through building membership networking and collaborations among old and new sponsors and members
- increase public outreach through supporting members with resources for engagement.
In addition, as a special focus this year the GPC will support the UN’s International Year of Fruits and Vegetables. There is a growing recognition that the global challenge posed by food insecurity is not just a requirement to provide more people with more food, but also improve their easy access to a more nutritious diet to support an active and healthy lifestyle in a sustainable way. Much agriculture currently contributes significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions and can greatly reduce valuable biodiversity. However, transformation of our food system to increase supply of the fruit and vegetables required for dietary transformation can also help us achieve a number of the UN’s environmental sustainability development goals (SDGs). In the view of the GPC Council, support for the UN’s International Year of Fruit and Vegetables is an appropriate focus for our membership this coming year 2021.
For more about us, here.
