ispi

International Society for Pest Information

 

Report of the Founding Meeting

31 January 2001
BBA Institute for Biological Control
Darmstadt, Germany

  1. Opening and adoption of the agenda
    The meeting was opened by Dr. Jürg Huber, Director of the BBA Institute for Biological Control. A list of the participants of the meeting is attached as Annex I (section 1). The agenda, which corresponded to the numbered sections of this report was adopted unanimously.
  2. Election of a Chairman and Rapporteur for the meeting
    Dr. J. Huber was suggested as Chairman for the meeting.
    Olaf Zimmermann was suggested as Rapporteur.
    Both candidates were elected unanimously.
  3. Adoption of the articles of the Society
    The articles were adopted unanimously and were signed by all meeting participants.
  4. Election of ISPI officers
    The following persons agreed to be considered as officers of the Society:
  5. As President and Vice-President:
    Christian Borgemeister
    Thorsten Kraska
    Chris J. Lomer
    As Executive Officer:
    Bernhard Zelazny
    As Members of the Finance Committee:
    Christian Borgemeister
    Thorsten Kraska
    Chris J. Lomer
    Olaf Zimmermann
    Matthias E. Zweigert

    Before the election of officers, the meeting adopted the following two resolutions unanimously:

    a) The President, the Vice-President and one member of the Finance Committee are elected together and each member can cast two votes for the three candidates nominated for these three positions. The candidate receiving the highest number of votes will be elected as President, the candidate with the next highest number of votes as Vice-President and the candidate with the lowest number of votes as Member of the Finance Committee.

    b) Four persons who were unable to attend the Founding Meeting, but would like to become members, are accepted as Founding Members. They are listed in Annex I section 2. The ballot forms they had submitted will be counted as part of the election for Society Officers.

    Ballot forms were distributed and completed by the participants in a confidential manner. The election results were as follows:

    Election of President, Vice President and one member of the Finance Committee:

    President:
    Chris J Lomer, 11 votes
    Vice-President:
    Thorsten Kraska 10 votes
    Member of Finance Committee:
    Christian Borgemeister 6 votes
    Election of Executive Officer:
    Bernhard Zelazny 14 votes
    Election of Finance Committee:
    Christian Borgemeister (see above)
    Olaf Zimmermann 12 votes
    Matthias E Zweigert 14 votes

    All candidates accepted the vote and their office.

  6. Criteria for ISPI membership
    A discussion paper (see Annex II) was distributed and discussed. There was a consensus by the meeting to distinguish between "active members" who participate in the activities of the Society and have voting rights and "contributing members" who only provide information on their affiliation and scientific publications. Contributing members and other persons can apply at any time to the Executive Committee to become an active (full) member. An application form is available on the ISPI internet site. It would be expected that, in contrast to the "contributing members", the "active members" are involved in the organization of the society or in the preparation, publication and distribution of databases and other information systems.
  7. Pest Directory database
    The Pest Directory database is currently the main activity of the Society and it its expected that members (active and contributing) will expand and update the database continuously. A part of the data will be made available on the internet, but it will not be technically possible to present the Pest Directory in its current form on the web. Therefore, it will be important to issue it as a CD for installation on PCs. BBA may be able to help with the production of the cover and accompanying text. In view of the costs and work involved in getting the Pest Directory ready for general distribution the following arrangements will be made for the time being: a group of ISPI members will assume the responsibility (and financial risk) for expanding, updating and producing the CD. Income from the sale of CDs will go to this group to meet expenses, but 20% of all income will go to the Society. A price scale of $ 15 for active ISPI members, $ 25 for contributing members, and $ 35 for others was considered suitable (postage to be added). Special prices would apply for the sale to students, persons in developing countries, for the sale to institutes, companies and organizations, as well as for subscriptions. Subscriptions allowing on-line updates should be looked into. Such a feature could make the Pest Directory more attractive and reduce illegal copying.
  8. ISPI Webpage
    The internet site "http://www.pestinfo.org" has been established as the ISPI webpage and features links to the list of meetings maintained by Thorsten Kraska and to on-line journals related to pest control. It also contains a number of forms for data-input and for membership application. Database features should be incorporated as soon as possible. Members were requested to set links to the ISPI-homepage on their own websites.

    A List of producers and suppliers of biocontrol products is part of the Pest Directory and should be also included in the ISPI web site. In order to expand this feature ISPI would offer (for a small annual fee) a service to small companies to design and display websites about their companies.

    For the time being, the web-page should be maintained in English only. However, a shorter version of the aims, structure, operation and activities of ISPI should be produced and translated into languages like French, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic. Several members offered help for these translations.
  9. On-line publication and other possible activities of the Society
    A discussion started on the rising costs of scientific journals and the possibility of starting on-line publications as part of the activities of the Society. It was noted that libraries and institutes face cost increases for journals and books of about 20% each year. However, journals which publish only on-line are not yet accepted by most scientists and it is expected that it will take a number of years before this changes. In the meantime ISPI would monitor the situation and bring up the topic again for discussion in future meetings.

    A general effort to generate interest for the activities of ISPI should be made. Several members offered to present the aims and activities of the Society at up-coming meetings. A poster and a flyer should be produced for publicizing the Society. Relevant organization should be contacted and requested to announce the new Society in their publications and internet pages.
  10. Financial matters
    In order to meet operating expenses for the Society, attempts should be made to generate some income as soon as possible (e.g. through internet services for small companies or the sale of the Pest Directory). The mode of paying small amounts (e.g. by credit card) to the society needs to be investigated.
  11. Other matters
    Since the Society needs a temporary address (at a later stage a post box could be established) Dr. Huber kindly offered the use of the institute address for the time being. Therefore the address of ISPI would be:

    International Society for Pest Information (ISPI)
    c/o BBA Institute for Biological Control
    Heinrichstr. 243
    D-64287 Darmstadt
    Germany

    e-mail: ispi@pestinfo.org

    For the time being, the logo of the Society would "ispi" (in small letters, bold, using font 'impact').

    ISPI meetings should take place at least once ayear. It is foreseen to hold the next meeting in October 2001 at the University in Bonn, in connection with the "Tropentag"- meeting of the "Deutsche Phytomedizinische Gesellschaft".



Olaf Zimmermann
Rapporteur

 

Jürg Huber
Chairman


Annex I

ISPI Founding Members

  1. Members present during the Founding Meeting
  2. Christian Borgemeister
    Institut für Pflanzenkrankheiten und Pflanzenschutz
    Universität Hannover
    Herrenhäuser Str. 2
    D-30419 Hannover
    Germany
    e-mail: borgemeister@ipp.uni-hannover.de

    Olaf Hering
    Bibliothek Außenstelle Kleinmachnow
    Biologische Bundesanstalt für Land- und Forstwirtschaft (BBA)
    Stahnsdorfer Damm 81
    D-14532 Kleinmachnow
    Germany
    e-mail: o.hering@bba.de

    Jürg Huber
    Institut für biologischen Pflanzenschutz
    Biologische Bundesanstalt für Land- und Forstwirtschaft (BBA)
    Heinrichstr. 243
    D-64287 Darmstadt
    Germany
    e-mail: J.Huber.biocontrol.bba@t-online.de

    Alois Huger
    retired, last affiliation:
    Institut für biologischen Pflanzenschutz
    Biologische Bundesanstalt für Land- und Forstwirtschaft (BBA)
    Heinrichstr. 243
    D-64287 Darmstadt
    Germany
    e-mail: 320061901766-0001@t-online.de

    Thorsten Kraska
    Institut für Pflanzenkrankheiten
    Landwirtschaftliche Fakultät
    Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität Bonn
    Nußallee 9
    D-53115 Bonn
    Germany
    e-mail: kraska@uni-bonn.de

    Chris J. Lomer
    Department of Ecology and Molecular Biology
    Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University
    Thorvaldsensvej 40
    DK-1871 Copenhagen - Frederiksberg C
    Denmark
    e-mail: clo@kvl.dk

    Hans Wilps
    GTZ-Projekt Biologisch-Integrierte Heuschreckenbekämpfung
    Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH
    Postfach 51 80
    D-65726 Eschborn 1
    Germany
    e-mail: wilps@gmx.net

    Bernhard Zelazny
    (no current affiliation)
    Eulerweg 3
    D-64347 Griesheim, Germany
    e-mail: Zelazny.ISPI@t-online.de

    Olaf Zimmermann
    Institut für biologischen Pflanzenschutz
    Biologische Bundesanstalt für Land- und Forstwirtschaft (BBA)
    Heinrichstr. 243
    D-64287 Darmstadt
    Germany
    e-mails: beneficials.biocontrol.bba@t-online.de

    Matthias E. Zweigert
    GTZ-Projekt Biologisch-Integrierte Heuschreckenbekämpfung
    Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH
    Postfach 51 80
    D-65726 Eschborn 1
    Germany
    e-mail: matthias.zweigert@gmx.net

  3. Members not attending the Meeting:

Jan Breithaupt
Plant Protection Service (AGPP)
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla
I-00100 Roma
Italy
e-mail: Jan.Breithaupt@fao.org

Holger Hindorf
Institut für Pflanzenkrankheiten
Landwirtschaftliche Fakultät
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität Bonn
Nußallee 9
D-53115 Bonn
Germany
e-mail: h.hindorf@uni-bonn.de

Christian U. Pantenius
FAO EMPRES (Desert Locust) Programme
c/o Crop Protection, Production and Regulatory Department
Ministry of Agriculture
P.O. Box 62347
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
e-mail: empreseth.fao@telecom.net.et

Arne Peters
e-nema GmbH
Klausdorferstr. 28-36
D-24223 Raisdorf
Germany
e-mail: a.peters@e-nema.de

 


Annex II

 

Discussion Paper

Possible definition for membership

International Society for Pest Information (ISPI)

 

ISPI is recognising two types of members:

Active members

These have voting rights, participate in Society meetings, and are entitled to a substantial discount on ISPI publications, like the Pest Directory database.

They actively participate in collecting and disseminating information or are engaged in organisational activities of the Society. Therefore they will be part of one of the following Society structures:

· Executive Committee, Finance Committee, or other organisational structures
· Data collection through Technical Working Groups
· Database preparation and operations
· WebPage preparation and operation
· On-line publications

Contributing members

These are entitled to a discount on ISPI publications like the Pest Directory database.
Contributing members stay in regular contact with the Society and provide information on:

· their current affiliation, address and field of work
· scientific articles, which they publish in journals or in the internet
· subjects of general and current interest, like international scientific meetings or the introduction of a new pest into a country