Managing the pathogens threatening St Helena’s biodiversity and food security
St Helena’s endemic trees and insects are under threat, possibly due to introduced pathogens or changes to the range of endemic pathogens due to climate change. This project will survey and identify pathogens associated with tree death (including nursery-raised stock), and insect populations. Additionally, crop diseases will be surveyed and their management assessed. Methods developed through CABI’s Plantwise initiative will build capacity in diagnostics and management across all sectors, supporting growers, conservationists, and foresters. This will prevent further deterioration of the endemic ecosystem, increase food production and reduce the necessity to import food.
Strengthening food security post COVID-19 pandemic and locust attack
Thirty-seven percent of Pakistan’s population is already vulnerable to food insecurity. This figure will soon exacerbate given the effect of recent external challenges including the rapid spread of Covid-19 and its subsequent Government restrictions, and Pakistan’s largest locust infestation in 25 years devasting large areas of agricultural land, including cotton, wheat, maize, and other crops. Adding to this turmoil is recent extreme weather events which have demonstrated that Pakistan’s food security and agriculture are critically exposed to the adverse impacts of climate change. In this project, CABI will support the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR) and four provincial agriculture departments in adopting technologies and advanced practices to manage these impacts, disseminating technologies and practices to stakeholders and recommending measures for building long-term resilience and sustainable food security.