Pest and Pathogen Threats to Food Security

The report examines how the interaction of climate change and globalization increases the risk of invasive pests and pathogens, threatening the global food supply. It highlights the vulnerability of monocultures and the high economic costs of biological invasions, while linking food insecurity to national security risks and armed conflict. The author advocates for a shift toward pre-invasion biosecurity, the development of low-cost detection systems, and the adoption of a One Health framework for research to build a more resilient global food supply chain.

• Pests and pathogens cause significant global agricultural losses, with some estimates indicating average crop losses of 40% and an annual global cost of 220 billion USD.
• Among the five most important crops for human calorie consumption (wheat, rice, maize, potato, and soybean), four suffer their most significant global losses from fungal pathogens, while soybeans are most impacted by cyst nematodes.
• Globalization and the movement of agricultural products increase the risk of invasive species, which can destabilize the food supply. Invasive insects alone are estimated to cost at least 70 billion USD globally per year, while in the United States, invasive species have cost over 1.2 trillion USD over 60 years, with 510 billion USD lost in agriculture.
• Climate change exacerbates pest and pathogen threats by widening their hospitable ranges, lengthening growing seasons (allowing more generations of pests per year), and weakening plant resilience through climatic stressors like extreme weather and temperature shifts.
• Agricultural output is threatened by compounding risks where multiple pests and pathogens overlap. In sub-Saharan Africa, maize is simultaneously threatened by Maize lethal necrosis virus, fall armyworm, stalk rot diseases, and the parasitic weed Striga, the latter of which can cause up to 100% crop loss.
• Food insecurity is linked to national security risks, including potential for violence, armed conflicts, and rapid human migration that can be exploited to spark unrest.
• Current invasive species management is underfunded in prevention; only 3% of funds are directed toward preventing invasions, despite prevention being more cost-effective than managing established threats.

APA

The Council on Strategic Risks (2024). Pest and Pathogen Threats to Food Security. https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/2024/06/13/pest-and-pathogen-threats-to-food-security/

Chicago

The Council on Strategic Risks. Pest and Pathogen Threats to Food Security. 2024. https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/2024/06/13/pest-and-pathogen-threats-to-food-security/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=The Council on Strategic Risks |title=Pest and Pathogen Threats to Food Security |date=13 June 2024 |url=https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/2024/06/13/pest-and-pathogen-threats-to-food-security/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{thecouncilonstrategicrisks2024pest, author = {{The Council on Strategic Risks}}, title = {{Pest and Pathogen Threats to Food Security}}, institution = {The Council on Strategic Risks}, year = {2024}, month = jun, url = {https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/2024/06/13/pest-and-pathogen-threats-to-food-security/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }