The city of Valencia will host a key technical meeting for the health of urban green spaces on October 7th. The Official College of Agricultural Technical Engineers and Agronomic Experts of COITAVC, together with the Conselleria de Agricultura, Agua, Ganadería y Pesca, the Higher Technical School of Agronomic Engineering and Natural Environment of the UPV, and the publishing house Phytoma, is organizing the BioProtection Plant Forum. The event will take place at Feria Valencia, within the framework of Iberflora, which from October 6th to 8th will be the meeting point for the green sector.
Under the title Let's Talk About Plant Health in Urban Green Spaces, the conference will address the growing challenge of protecting urban trees and green spaces from pests and diseases. COITAVC has already opened registration for this event.
The first session will focus on trees and their threats. Mª Eugènia Rodrigo, scientific director of the forum and researcher at the Mediterranean Agroforestry Institute (UPV), will share pest control experience in the city of Valencia. Xavier Pons, professor at the University of Lleida, will address the issue of aphids, while Estrella Hernández Suárez (ICIA) will analyze the challenge posed by Diocalandra frumenti in urban palm trees.
The second session will look at fungal and pathogenic diseases. Ana Pérez Sierra (IVIA) will explain the action of wood-decaying fungi. Josep Armengol (UPV) will focus on palm pathologies, and Ana Alfaro (UPV) will present the incidence of viruses and phytoplasmas in these environments.
The conference will conclude with a third session dedicated to thinking about the city of the future. Jaime Güemes, director of the Botanical Garden of the University of Valencia, will speak about the management and selection of urban trees, and Diego Gómez de Barreda (UPV) will address the management of adventitious weeds in green areas.
To connect scientific knowledge with municipal management, a debate panel moderated by Mª Eugènia Rodrigo will be held, with the participation of reference municipal technicians such as Pedro Torrent (Seville), Juan Bernardo Martín (Barcelona), and Germán de Huertas (Valencia), along with phytosanitary advisors Mònica Bedós, José Javier Sigüenza, and Pilar Xamaní.
The importance of green spaces for human well-being, stress reduction, and mitigating the urban heat island effect will be highlighted, referencing the WHO's 3-30-300 rule. "It is urgent to value the importance of the health of green spaces for their influence on people's well-being," states Mª Eugènia Rodrigo.
The BioProtection Plant Forum, established in 2019, is consolidating itself as an unmissable event for plant health professionals, addressing topics such as climate change and biodiversity conservation.
