International Year of Plant Health
20th May, 2020
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation’s International Year of Plant Health aims to raise global awareness on how protecting plant health is beneficial to humans, health and the economy.
As a way of contributing to this objective, Defra launched a new digital social media campaign called “Healthy plants, healthy minds” on Instagram and Facebook, to seek to inspire more people to appreciate houseplants, gardening and their benefits in supporting mental health and wellbeing during the Covid-19 lockdown.
For the campaign, we are asking audiences to share stories and experiences on how plants have helped their mental health and wellbeing before and during the lockdown, and encouraging people to post their pictures using #HealthyPlantsHealthyMinds.
“The United Nations declared 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH). The Year was extended until 1 July 2021 due to the postponement of some key initiatives caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to raise global awareness on how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment, and boost economic development.”
We are also linking to Mental Health Awareness Week (18-24 May 2020), and the fact that this falls during the same week as the RHS virtual Chelsea Flower Show. On Wednesday 20th May, Adam Frost will be talking about the International Year of Plant Health garden he designed for this year’s show, and highlighting the importance of plant health.
The week will also be an opportunity to relive some of the best moments from previous shows. Please see: https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/virtual-chelsea
Our partners recently published new blog about “Ways plants promote better mental health and wellbeing”.
Finally, one of our IYPH partners UK Research and Innovation https://www.ukri.org/ have produced some fantastic illustrations to celebrate IYPH. You can view these here: https://www.yearofplanthealth.co.uk/news
We continue to plan for activity later in the year and into 2021 to celebrate IYPH. These include a new Plant Health Week in September. For more details please check: https://www.yearofplanthealth.co.uk/get-involved
