By – Dr. N. Munal Meitei
“A plant is like having a friend around the house.” – Beth Ditto
The International Day of Plant Health is celebrated on 12 May to raise global awareness on the vital role that plant health plays in food security, livelihoods, reduce poverty, protect biodiversity and the ecosystem balance. Plants are not just a backdrop to human and animal life – they are central to the health of our entire planet. The plant health is vital but often under recognized pillar.
The theme for 2026 is “Plant Biosecurity for Food Security,” focusing on the essential role biosecurity plays in protecting crops from pests and diseases, environment and biodiversity and supporting a zero-hunger world.
Plant biosecurity is like border control and hygiene for plants – checking, protecting and responding to prevent dangerous plant pests and diseases from damaging crops and disrupting their trade. It serves as a safety net, so we have food on our tables and farmers’ jobs are safe. It keeps international trade smooth and preserves precious biodiversity.
Plants are life – plants make up 80 percent of the food we eat and produce 98 percent of the oxygen we breathe. But we lose as much as 40 percent of crops to pests and insects costing to Rs. 25,650 billion annually, setting back global efforts to ensure food security, harming precious biodiversity and impacting economies and livelihoods associated with international travel and trade.
In this context, plant biosecurity focuses on preventing the entry, establishment and spread of harmful pests and diseases. Prevention is far more effective and cost-efficient than responding after a pest has spread or established, particularly in an increasingly interconnected world. Healthy plants underpin agricultural productivity, contributing to stable yields, resilient farming systems and reliable harvests, while also supporting ecosystems and biodiversity.
Global trade and travel continue to increase the risk of pests moving across borders. Each year, hundreds of millions of sea containers and billions of parcels move across the international supply chains, alongside plant products and wood packaging materials that can carry pests, soil or organic matter.
Protecting plant health relies on shared responsibility for shared benefits. Governments, industry, researchers, growers and the broader community all have a role to play. Simple actions, such as avoiding the movement of plants, seeds, fruit and soil when travelling, avoiding of purchase of plants from unknown sources, and reporting unusual pests or symptoms early, can make a meaningful difference.
Plant health is the foundation of food security and is interconnected with human, animal and environmental health. Healthy plants provide nutrient-rich diets for humans and animals and help promote a balanced ecosystem. Pest-infected plants can trigger a cascade of negative effects on food supplies and induce outbreaks of zoonotic diseases transmitted through harmful pathogens.
Pesticides play a role in pest management but their overuse and poor management cause biodiversity loss, environmental pollution, ecosystem dysfunction, food safety concerns and pesticide resistance.
Protecting plants is protecting life. Climate change threatens to reduce not only the quantity of crops, lowering yields, but also the nutritious value. Rising temperatures also mean that more plant pests and diseases are appearing in the places where they were never seen before.
Deforestation, land-use changes and pest infestations push wildlife closer to human settlements, increasing the risk of disease spreading to animals and humans. Healthy plants are crucial for preventing these outbreaks.
Plants are a vital source of vitamins, minerals and fibre – essential for human and animal health. When pests and diseases compromise plant health, entire food chains can collapse, leading to hunger, malnutrition and economic instability. Protecting plant health ensures consistent food availability and safety and supports nutritional security.
Healthy crops and forests underpin the incomes of billions of smallholder farmers, traders and rural communities. Outbreaks of plant pests can devastate national economies, disrupt export markets and drive poverty and migration. Investing in plant health strengthens rural economies and helps build resilience to economic shocks.
Plants, especially forests, grasslands and peat lands act as carbon sinks. Forests absorb approximately 2.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually, helping to fight climate change and improve air quality. Maintaining plant health is critical to mitigate and adapting to climate threats. Healthy plants are natural climate defenders. Protecting them today ensures for a cleaner and more beautiful, greener tomorrow.
Plants regulate Earth’s critical environment by stabilizing soils, filtering air and water, regulating the water cycle and support biodiversity. They prevent soil erosion, protect beneficial insects like bees and microbes and help reduce chemical use. Loss of biodiversity diminishes ecosystem resilience, making both the environment and human communities more vulnerable to climate extremes, pests and disease outbreaks.
Every plant tells a story of vitality, a saga of life-sustaining life. We must go beyond talking about protecting plants by taking action. To ensure plant health, we must share knowledge and best practices and use advanced technologies and resources to develop innovative solutions for plant diseases, invasive species and climate change impacts.
(The author is Environmentalist, presently working as DFO/Chandel, email-nmunall@yahoo.in)