Book excerpt: Pests and diseases inflict a devastating impact on the quantity and quality of food production. Pesticides play a vital role in crop protection, although their excessive use poses a potential health hazard and a threat to food security and human and environmental safety. This book overviews developments on pesticides and pests that are relevant to agriculture in the Indian sub-continent, Asia and the world at large. These topics impact free world trade both directly and indirectly. The volume brings together the latest information about chemical, botanical, biorational pesticides and bioagents, international specifications for pesticide formulations, pesticide-environment interaction, and amendments to prevent leaching losses of pesticides in soil, among other topics. The issues of pest resistance, herbicide resistant or tolerant crops, and the changing global climate are also addressed. This book is a valuable collection of chapters that will serve as a reference point for students, scientists, policy-makers and other stakeholders interested in pesticides and pest control.