Building awareness of chestnut blight through an online course

Chestnut trees provide food, income and environmental benefits to communities around the world and are an important part of many forest ecosystems. They are an important species across Europe and Central Asia.

Yet these valuable trees continue to face a major threat from chestnut blight, a devastating plant disease that has transformed chestnut forests in many regions.

To raise awareness of this disease and support its diagnosis and management, the Virtual Learning Center of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched a new self-paced online course on chestnut blight: Understanding, identifying and managing the disease.

Caused by the fungus Cryphonectria parasitica, chestnut blight has led to severe declines in chestnut populations outside its native range, with significant ecological, economic and cultural impacts.

This introductory course provides an overview of chestnut blight, including its biology, symptoms, spread and management. It also introduces biological control and other disease management approaches, as well as sampling and monitoring practices that support informed decision-making.

Designed for forest farmers, foresters, biologists, conservationists, and other practitioners working with chestnuts, this course offers a practical understanding of chestnut blight and its management at no cost.

The course consists of three short, self-paced modules and can be completed on a smartphone, tablet or computer. Participants who successfully complete the course assessment receive a certificate of participation.

Access the course and self-enrol here.

Supporting chestnuts in Albania

The virtual learning course is not the only activity of FAO on protecting the health of chestnut trees in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way. Albania benefits from the Organization’s support through its One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) Initiative that helps develop the country’s chestnut value chain. As part of this, biological control methods are promoted to fight an invasive pest – the chestnut gall wasp.