Walther Raúl Enkerlin Hoeflich (born March 24, 1960, in

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

) is a Mexican

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

, advocate, and pioneer researcher of the economics of applied sterile insect technique (SIT), currently based at the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization (FOA) and

International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...

(IAEA) Division.

Career

In 1994, Enkerlin was appointed by the national plant protection organization of Mexico as research leader of the project that, in 1997, enabled the opening of the United States market to Hass avocado from Mexico after more than 82 years of quarantine. Today Mexico is the world's number one exporter of Hass avocado, supplying 45% of the international avocado market. Having worked under the IAEA when it was awarded the

2005 Nobel Peace Prize The 2005 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to International Atomic Energy Agency and Mohamed ElBaradei "for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used i ...

, he has developed technical standards, policies, and organizational structures to support the implementation of successful SIT programs worldwide, averting devastating economic, social and environmental damage and contributing to food security, food safety and poverty reduction. In 2008, Enkerlin became the Technical Director of the North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO). Under Enkerlin's directorship, from 2010 to 2015 the Moscamed Programme Commission – the first area-wide and large-scale application of SIT technology against the

Mediterranean fruit fly ''Ceratitis capitata'', commonly known as the Mediterranean fruit fly or medfly, is a yellow-and-brown fly native to sub-Saharan Africa. It has no near relatives in the Western Hemisphere and is considered to be one of the most destructive fr ...

- achieved the greatest advance in pushing the leading edge of the Mediterranean fruit fly infestation away from the Mexican borders, maintaining the Mediterranean fruit fly-free status of Belize, Mexico, and the United States. During that time, he was also appointed by the national plant protection organization of Mexico as the lead technical negotiator of the new Guatemala-Mexico-USA Moscamed Program Cooperative Agreement, which was merged into a single tri-national agreement and ratified in July 2014. In his current role at the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of the

, Enkerlin has been the lead entomologist and technical officer for several high-impact Cooperation Projects in member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency, including projects responsible for eradicating the Mediterranean fruit fly from Argentina’s Patagonia region, Patagonia was declared as a fruit fly free area by the USDA-APHIS in 2005 and eradicating the

Cactoblastis cactorum ''Cactoblastis cactorum'', the cactus moth, South American cactus moth or nopal moth, is native to Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and southern Brazil. It is one of five species in the genus '' Cactoblastis'' that inhabit South America, where many pa ...

(cactus moth) in Mexico in 2009. For eradicating the Mediterranean fruit fly from the Dominican Republic in 2017, his team was awarded the prestigious IAEA Superior Achievement Award. That same year, he was jointly awarded the prestigious teamwork award from FAO-AG Department.

Published work

Enkerlin has published over 50 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, including the first-ever article published in a scientific journal on the Moscamed Program of the Governments of Mexico,

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

and the USA. In 2019, two of his articles received recognition from the British Journal Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata for being one of the top 20 most consulted articles in 2017 and 2018. He is also the author of 5 harmonized technical manuals of the FAO/IAEA. The manuals are used as reference documents in several fruit fly International Standards of Phytosanitary Measures, as well as independently by Member Countries of the FAO and IAEA.

Education

Enkerlin has a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Parasitology and a Masters in Science Plant Protection from

Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) ( en, Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education), also known as Tecnológico de Monterrey or just Tec, is a secular and coeducational private university based in ...

, and a PhD in Applied Entomology from Imperial College London. He is the son of internationally renowned entomologist

Dieter Enkerlin Dieter Enkerlin Schallenmüller was a Mexican biologist, entomologist, and professor who pioneered the use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in Latin America. In 2001, Enkerlin posthumously received the National Plant Protection Award (SENASIC ...

and brother of notable Mexican conservationist

Ernesto Enkerlin Ernesto Christian Enkerlin Hoeflich (born 14 December 1958 in Monterrey) is the Director of Conservation and Sustainability at Parque Fundidora. A prominent Mexican conservationist, environmentalist and researcher, he specializes in parrots' ec ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Enkerlin, Walther Mexican entomologists 1960 births Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education alumni Alumni of Imperial College London Living people