Transboundary plant pests and diseases are considered major impediments to the sustainable development of crop production, particularly in poor rural areas. Their control requires coordination at international, regional, and local levels.

EMPRES Plant Protection focuses on several transboundary pests and diseases impacting livelihoods, food security and national economies such as Desert Locust, and other locusts in the Caucasus and Central Asia and in Africa; armyworm in eastern and southern Africa, affecting agropastoral resources and livelihoods; fruit flies, impacting the horticultural industry in more than 30 African countries; crop diseases such as wheat and coffee rust diseases, banana, cassava and maize diseases.

Monitoring and early warning is key to prevent transboundary plant pests and diseases. A global Desert Locust monitoring and early warning system at FAO headquarters in Rome provides forecasts and alerts. State-of-threat specialized tools developed for recording and transmitting field data and custom geographic information systems for analyzing locust data can be adapted for other Transboundary Plant Pests and Diseases.