2020 has been designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Plant Health. This issue of BGjournal therefore focuses on the biosecurity activities of botanic gardens around the world. These range from taking action to ensure that harmful pests and diseases are not present in their collections, to putting in place monitoring and surveillance programmes as part of early warning systems for new pest outbreaks.

The success of the International Plant Sentinel Network (IPSN) in generating new information of the spread and impact of a range of plant pests and diseases is highlighted in this issue. We are of course reliant on the active involvement of our members and other experts and collaborators in gathering this data, and we gratefully acknowledge their valuable contribution. We also acknowledge the support of the UK’s Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in providing funding support to the IPSN.

We hope you enjoy reading this issue of BGjournal and please do let us have any comments or suggestions.