VLC voices: From detection to response: tackling transboundary animal and plant threats

Transboundary animal diseases (TADs) and plant pests continue to pose major threats to agrifood systems, livelihoods and trade worldwide. Their capacity to spread rapidly across borders means that countries must be prepared not only to respond to outbreaks, but also to coordinate prevention, preparedness and control efforts at regional and global levels. Managing these threats requires strong technical capacity, rapid information exchange and a workforce equipped to implement complex response measures.  

FAO plays a central role in supporting countries to prevent and control the spread of pests and diseases through technical guidance, coordination mechanisms and capacity development initiatives. From strengthening preparedness and response planning to enhancing field-level detection and reporting, training remains a critical component of these efforts. Developing competencies across veterinary and plant health services helps ensure that interventions can be implemented effectively and consistently.  

In this interview, Madhur Dhingra, FAO Senior Animal Health Officer, and Fazil Dusunceli, FAO Agricultural Officer, share perspectives on current priorities in combating transboundary threats and reflect on how FAO Virtual Learning Centers contribute to strengthening preparedness and response capacities. 

What are the major transboundary animal disease and plant pest threats affecting agrifood systems today, and how has the global risk landscape evolved in recent years?

Madhur: The list is long, but if I had to single out one, it would be high pathogenicity avian influenza.

What makes it stand out is the convergence of several crises at once. Since 2021, we have seen a near-continuous global spread reaching regions like South America and Antarctica. For farmers, the losses have been staggering, with hundreds of millions of poultry culled. At the same time, we are witnessing unprecedented mortality in wild birds and marine mammal populations, potentially leading to an ecological crisis.

And then there is the zoonotic dimension. The detection of H5N1 in dairy cattle and many unusual mammalian hosts is a stark reminder that the species barrier is not a given, and the virus may acquire the potential for spreading in humans. More broadly, this illustrates how the risk landscape has shifted: we have moved from diseases that were relatively predictable in scope, toward outbreaks characterized by faster and wider spread and a much tighter connection between animal, wildlife, and human health. That is what makes One Health not just a useful concept, but a practical necessity.

Fazil: In the case of plant pests and diseases, unfortunately, it is not so easy to single out a specific pest or a disease. This is because there are many crops, and each crop has diverse types of pest and disease problems resulting from insects, fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, phytoplasmas, weeds and other biological organisms.

However, we can certainly refer to several key pests that have been escalating globally or regionally in recent times. Locusts are long known threats in Africa, Near East, Southwest and Central Asia, but now also threaten crops in Southern America. For a recent global spread of a pest, we can give the fall armyworm as a good example. The pest has expanded all over Africa, the Near East and Asia, affecting many crops, specifically maize, following its incursion into Africa in 2016 from Southern America. Fruit flies remain as a major challenge in fruit production at a global scale, while plant hoppers in rice continue to impact rice production, particularly in Asia.

Similar to insect pests, fungal, bacterial, viral and other types of diseases affect the productivity of crops and their quality. Wheat, a major crop for food security, is impacted by rust diseases in almost all wheat-producing countries. The crop is facing a new threat of a recently emerging race of yellow rust in Europe, defeating the YR15 resistance gene. Wheats in Asia and Africa are facing another potential threat from the spread of blast disease, which has jumped from Southern America to Bangladesh and Zambia in recent years. In maize, an important staple crop for Africa, the devastating lethal necrosis disease, which is a result of infection by multiple viruses and appeared in Southern Africa in the 2010s, still poses a risk of further spread on the continent. Cassava, one of the critical staple crops for the developing countries in the tropics, faces severe losses, both in terms of yield and quality, from mosaic virus and brown streak virus in Africa. Similarly, a newly emerging disease named witches' broom is growing as a major issue for the crop in the northern parts of Southern America. In cocoa, swollen shoot disease is causing severe losses in Western Africa, sometimes even causing market disruptions. Bananas face several difficult to manage diseases in different regions, including the bunchy top virus in Asia and Africa, and the Tropical Race 4 (TR4) of the Fusarium wilt fungus, which is widely present in Asia, but now causing great concern in some parts of the Near East, Southern Africa and Central America.

Weak biosecurity systems, insufficient border control capacities and lack of awareness and knowledge are accounted for the increase in transboundary and intercontinental movement of these pests. Increasing global trade, travels and climate change are expected to accelerate the expansion of these pests and diseases into new destinations.

How does FAO support countries in preventing and controlling the spread of transboundary pests and diseases?

Madhur: FAO works across the full cycle of transboundary animal disease management — from monitoring of risks, generating disease intelligence, anticipating outbreaks to supporting countries in upstream prevention and provision of surge assistance in the middle of an emergency.

On prevention, a core part of our work is strengthening surveillance and early warning systems — helping countries detect unusual disease events quickly, connecting national data into regional networks, and translating that intelligence into timely alerts before a disease crosses borders.

FAO also develops policy frameworks for progressive control of diseases, improving biosecurity in value chains, and supporting countries in adapting these frameworks to national contexts. When an outbreak occurs, FAO provides technical assistance, supports outbreak investigations, advises containment measures, deploys emergency response missions and helps coordinate responses across animal health, wildlife, and human health sectors.

A significant part of our work is longer-term: supporting legislation and policy frameworks, strengthening laboratory networks, and helping countries develop preparedness plans. But none of these actions would work if the workforce in the countries does not have the competencies to respond to these threats to livestock and farmer's livelihoods: Capacity development is one of the core components of FAO's work with the countries.

Fazil: This is valid also for plant pests and diseases. The phytosanitary standards and tools developed by the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) are the globally recognized key instruments to prevent the spread of quarantine pests and disease agents through trade, travel or other means. These standards aim to promote safe trade by minimizing the risks of their spread and through developing the capacities of countries for the implementation of the related standards and measures.

In terms of monitoring, FAO’s support for surveillance and monitoring of certain pests and diseases has been instrumental at regional and global levels. For example, the Desert Locust Information Service (DLIS) has been instrumental in monitoring and fighting desert locusts across Africa, the Near East and Southwest Asia. This work is also supported by the Desert Locust Control Committee and the three associated regional commissions. A similar platform is being developed for control of locusts in Central Asia. Similarly, FAO’s leadership has been critical for monitoring fall armyworm at a global scale, and the red palm weevil in the Near East. FAO works in partnership with other agencies and research entities for other pests and diseases for which they have the relevant capacities and tools. FAO provides technical support to its member countries also for prevention and response to pest outbreaks, through strengthening preparedness capacities and developing strategies and contingency plans for emergency response. Recently, the Progressive Pathways for Emergency Preparedness (PPEP) approach has been adopted to support countries in their efforts to strengthen their preparedness levels. In case of emergency outbreaks, FAO’s fast-track emergency Technical Support Projects (TCP-e) facilitate rapid support to tackle such emerging outbreaks.

While great emphasis is given to preventing and addressing pest emergencies, FAO is also providing extensive technical support to countries to promote integrated pest management (IPM) approaches and sound pesticide lifecycle management practices. The well-known Farmer Field School (FFS) approach, which was borne mainly from the pest management topics in Asia around three decades ago in Asia, has been instrumental in supporting IPM work all around the world on the ground. This is still growing in many countries covering expanded topics.

As the agrifood systems evolve and food chains become more complex, production processes and human and environmental health issues become more interconnected. Thus, the plant health sector is also emerging as an important component of the One Health concept. Considering the strong linkages between the plant production practices and the quantity and quality of food, and human health, a stronger emphasis is now being placed on integrating plant health into one health concept. Considering the recent trends, recently a global programme (plant health for One Health) has been developed with the aim of better integrating plant health into One Health framework and initiatives. This is expected to support countries in their efforts to integrate plant health into One Health framework more effectively. It will also help them to adopt environmentally friendly and sustainable plant pest and disease management practices to minimize crop losses and pesticide use while maximizing environmental, animal and human health benefits.

What role does training play in ensuring effective preparedness and response to these threats, and how do FAO Virtual Learning Centers contribute to this effort?

Madhur: Capacity development is foundational to everything else. You can have strong policies and early warning systems in place, but if the people on the ground — veterinarians, animal health workers, laboratory staff — lack the skills to detect, report, and respond to a disease event, the whole system breaks down. Building the capacity of that workforce is central to preparedness.

This is where FAO Virtual Learning Centers have proven to be a genuinely transformative tool. By offering courses online and free of cost, they allow us to reach audiences at a scale that traditional in-person training simply cannot match — across multiple countries, languages, and professional levels simultaneously.

But what I find most significant is the reach to what we call the last mile. Many of the field workers, and even more female professionals, who are first to encounter a disease outbreak — in remote areas, in smallholder farming communities — are precisely those who have historically had the least access to formal training opportunities. FAO Virtual Learning Centers change that equation, putting quality, standardized training within reach of people who would otherwise go without. In the context of transboundary animal diseases, where early detection is everything that reaches the last mile, it can make a real difference.

Fazil: Well, FAO has developed an extensive number of tools, norms and guiding materials for the use at international and field levels in the area of plant health. These include international agreements, globally agreed technical standards, such as phytosanitary standards, pesticide-related standards, food safety standards, and many pest management guides.

In order to obtain the expected results and benefits from these instruments, they need to be implemented and utilized at country and field levels. However, this could be possible only with the availability of the resources and the technical capacities, and in the case of developing or least developed countries, this is limited in most cases. As a knowledge organization, FAOs key function is to provide the countries with necessary technical support for strengthening of these capacities where there are gaps.

In this respect, virtual learning tools play a key role in disseminating knowledge and skills as well as setting up networks, improving community engagement, and exchanging experiences and lessons among countries and experts. In today's digital world, these tools emerge as impactful resources reachable by a great number of institutions and beneficiaries all around the globe.

What are FAO’s short-term priorities in tackling transboundary plant pests and animal diseases, and where do you see the greatest need for strengthened capacity in the coming years?

Madhur: FAO's short-term priority is clear: supporting countries in managing transboundary animal diseases needs a transformative approach — an approach that engages all stakeholders. FAO will launch in June 2026, a renewed initiative to address transboundary animal diseases: the Global Partnership Programme on Transboundary Animal Diseases (GPP-TAD). This will be a collective approach to protect livelihoods and keep livestock systems on a sustainable transformation path.

In terms of where the greatest capacity gaps lie, the answer keeps coming back to the same fundamentals: the ability to detect diseases early, report them through the right channels, and act to control them promptly. These sound like basic requirements, but in many countries, they remain genuinely out of reach.

Surveillance systems and laboratory networks matter, but they only function when there is a trained, motivated workforce behind them — animal health workers who know what to look for, how to report it, and what to do next. That is where I see the most urgent and lasting need for strengthened capacity in the coming years.

Fazil: Addressing transboundary plant pests requires well-functioning international collaboration, effective information sharing, dynamic monitoring systems and strong response capacities by the countries. As an intergovernmental organization, FAO focuses on raising awareness on emerging issues and facilitating international collaboration to tackle transboundary plant pest challenges. In this respect, FAO has been extending its experiences gained in locust management into the management of other major transboundary pests and diseases such as fall armyworm, red palm weevil, banana fusarium wilt and bunchy top, wheat rusts and olive quick decline Xylella fastidiosa.

Recent experiences indicate that there is an increased need to develop and adopt preventive strategies in addition to efforts to strengthen national response capacities. Collaboration mechanisms and information sharing among the countries evidently need strengthening at regional and global levels. This needs to be supported by advanced surveillance and monitoring tools and systems, making use of digital and remote sensing technologies. At country level, the biosecurity systems of countries require strengthening as plant pests seem to find their ways for incursion into new destinations, particularly in the developing world.

Considering the lessons learned through recent initiatives and engagements, the recently developed global programme on plant health for one health will place specific emphasis on addressing transboundary plant pest challenges. In this respect, strengthening surveillance, monitoring and early warning (– supported by prediction models) will be a focus area as well as improving phytosanitary capacities for improved biosecurity, prevention, preparedness and response.

About the experts

		Madhur S. Dhingra Madhur S Dhingra leads FAO’s work on the prevention and control of transboundary animal diseases as Head of Emergency Prevention System for Animal Health (EMPRES-AH). She oversees the development of policies and strategies to address high-impact diseases and leads efforts to enhance global early warning systems and progressive biosecurity management for improved national resilience to food security and global health threats.
		Fazil Dusunceli Fazil Dusunceli is an agricultural officer with a plant pathology background in FAO’s Plant Production and Protection Division. He serves as the divisional focal point for FAO Priority Programme Area 3 (PPA3) and as alternate lead technical officer for the One Health Knowledge Nexus project. As a member of the Locusts and Other Transboundary Plant Pests and Diseases Team, he supports the monitoring and management of emerging threats and contributes to the design and implementation of related projects and strategies.