Improving resilience to the spread of plant diseases via a regional Pest Common Data Space

As the climate changes, pests previously unable to survive in the BSR will become viable and may flourish in the new conditions. To enable rapid responses, it is necessary to collect and monitor data on the diversity of plant diseases, especially during growing season. Precise biodiversity data of pests are a crucial prerequisite to develop possible future scenarios of their spread and make recommendations for adaption. A major challenge is that we miss such precise and digitally available monitoring schema. This data must be collected, integrated with existing data, and analyzed as soon as possible. It must be easily shareable between farmers, officials, and researchers across countries to ensure that threats are identified and responded to quickly and comprehensively. Fortunately, technologies have been developed enabling such a system: Pests can be identified in the field using new environmental DNA technologies and photos uploaded using mobile apps. Machine-learning can be used to discover and identify pests through images. Data can be stored in a Common Data Space created based on the existing PlutoF platform. The aim is to create a common data space for the rapid detection of species spreading from south to north. The main focus of the pilot will be on pathogenic and parasitic species that endanger agriculture. Our proposed digital platform will allow us to quickly detect the spread of dangerous species as early as possible and implement the necessary countermeasures.