Cobra meeting over ash dieback

1 November 2012 Last updated at 22:43 ET

The government's emergency committee Cobra is meeting to discuss the fungal threat to the nation's ash trees.

The ash dieback fungal infection, which has killed some 90% of the species in Denmark, has been found in the wild in East Anglia. The outbreak currently remains restricted to that area.

Ministers have said 100,000 trees have already been destroyed to try to prevent the spread of the disease.

Friday's meeting will coordinate the government's response to its presence.

BBC rural affairs correspondent Jeremy Cooke said the Cobra meeting is an indication of how seriously the government is now taking ash dieback, as the committee is associated with responding to matters of crisis and national security.

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Symptoms of Chalara dieback

• Diseased saplings typically display dead tops and side shoots.
• Lesions often found at base of dead side shoots.
• Lesions on branch or stem can cause wilting of foliage above.
• Disease affects mature trees by killing off new growth.

But the concern is that the iconic native ash is under serious threat of being lost from the landscape, as the experience of continental Europe suggests many more of the trees could die as the wind spreads the spores across the country, he added.

The Environment Secretary Owen Patterson is expected to chair the session.

Ash dieback, also known as Chalara dieback is called by the fungus Charlara Fraxinia.

The disease was first spotted in the UK in February, at a nursery in Buckinghamshire, and was subsequently identified in other nurseries and newly planted areas.

But it has now been found in the wider countryside in East Anglia.

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Shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh has accused the government of "dithering" over the issue and has expressed concerns over cutbacks to the Forestry Commission's budget.

But Environment minister David Heath denied there had been any cut back in resources "applied to plant health and tree health in this country".

Visible symptoms of ash dieback include leaf loss and crown dieback in affected trees and it can lead to tree death.

The disease has been listed as a quarantine pathogen under national emergency measures and the Forestry Commission has produced guidance, including help on how people can identify possible signs of infection.

Experts are urging people to report suspected cases of dieback in order to prevent the spread of the disease to the wider environment becoming established.

An app, Ashtag, has been launched to try and map the spread of the disease by allowing users to upload pictures and report possible sightings to a team who will pass any information to the Forestry Commission.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20176720#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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