Scotland has launched five key principles to protect the country’s plant health. Scotland’s Plant Health Centre published the principles to mark the United Kingdom’s Plant Health Week, which is itself part of the United Nations’ International Year of Plant Health.
Scotland’s Plant Health Centre was launched in 2018 and its directorate is headed up by ENDURE partner the James Hutton Institute. It is designed bring the plant sectors in agriculture, horticulture, forestry and the environment together to co-ordinate plant health knowledge, skills, needs and activities across the country.
The James Hutton Institute website reports: “Scotland’s plants underpin the health of the nation, but plant pests and diseases can cause major economic, environmental, and social costs. Increased global movements of plants and soil, coupled with the effects of climate change, are allowing novel pests and diseases to take hold or endemic ones to flourish.
“To raise awareness of these issues, and coinciding with the UK Plant Health Week (19-27 September), Scotland’s Plant Health Centre has launched a set of five Key Principles, which outline important steps to protect Scotland’s plant resources.”
The five key principles are:
A series of short stories have been produced to bring these principles to life and celebrate Scotland’s plants. These include a piece written by the James Hutton Institute’s Ian Toth and Damian Bienkowski exploring the challenges in keeping potato crops disease-free.
Ian, who is director of the Plant Health Centre, told the James Hutton Institute website: “Plant diseases don’t respect borders and cause problems across all plant species, from iconic forest trees to the smallest of wildflowers and taking in ornamentals, garden plants and all our crop species as they go.
“With thousands of plant species in Scotland and 1,000 novel pests and diseases listed on the UK plant health risk register, there has never been a more crucial time to pool resources and bring scientists and land users together to act.”
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