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Posted: 4th September 2013

Crops pests rapidly spreading
Study reveals food security threat from global warming

Climate change is driving the spread of crop pests and disease, according to research from Universities of Exeter and Oxford.

Scientists carried out a study into the relationship between increased global temperatures over the past 50 years and expansion in the range of crop pests, revealing that the two have "strong" links.

The study, which involved observations of the distribution of 612 crop pests collected over the past 50 years, revealed that global warming is causing them to spread towards the North and South Poles at a rate of nearly two miles a year.

It was also calculated that these losses of major crops amount to enough to feed almost nine per cent of today's global population – a figure that is almost certain to rise further.

According to the scientists, pests are being spread primarily as a result of international freight transportation, with warming climates allowing them to become established in previously unsuitable regions.

The pests studied included fungi, bacteria, viruses, insects, nematodes, viroids and oomycetes – but scientists say these are ever-expanding in diversity.

Professor Sarah Gurr, from the University of Exeter, said: "Renewed efforts are required to monitor the spread of crop pests, and to control their movement from region to region, if we are to halt the relentless destruction of crops across the world in the face of climate change."

The study has been published in the Nature Climate Change journal.



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