Environment Secretary Owen Paterson will hold a summit today to discuss ash dieback which is threatening to devastate one of the UK's most common native trees.
Representatives of industry, conservation groups and scientific experts will meet in London to discuss the fungus which has been discovered in recently planted ash trees and in the wider countryside in the UK.
The Chalara fraxinea fungus, which causes leaf loss and crown dieback and can lead to tree death, has wiped out 90% of ash trees in some parts of Denmark and is becoming widespread throughout central Europe.
There are fears that the country's ash trees are facing a similar fate to its elms, which were destroyed by Dutch elm disease in the 1970s.
Chalara ash dieback has been identified at 82 sites in the UK, including 32 cases in forests and woodlands, and the summit is expected to hear the latest update on the situation after hundreds of officials spent the weekend investigating sites for the disease.
The Government has been accused of being too slow to respond to the threat of the disease, but ministers insist they are taking the problem seriously and have brought in a ban on imports of ash trees.
Mr Paterson has also been holding meetings twice daily to discuss the problem with experts.