Box 2-9.Policy instruments affecting pest management

Many national, regional and international policies and agreements have focused on phasing out the most toxic pesticides, increasing public availability of information on pesticide bans and restrictions, and promotion of least toxic sustainable alternatives such as IPM. They include:

Many national, regional and international policies and agreements have focused on phasing out the most toxic pesticides, increasing public availability of information on pesticide bans and restrictions, and promotion of least toxic sustainable alternatives such as IPM. They include:

National regulatory instruments, policies and programs:

• Pesticide registration legislation, pesticide subsidies, use taxes and import duties; establishment of Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs)
• Pesticide use, residue and poisoning databases; Pesticide Use Reduction programs and Organic Transition Payments (Baerselman, 1992; Imbroglini, 1992; Blobaum, 1997; Reus and Leendertse, 2000; Jensen and Petersen, 2001; Chunyanuwat, 2005)
• National IPM extension programs (Briolini, 1992; Huus-Bruun, 1992; van Lenteren, 1992; FAO, 2005b)

Regional initiatives and frameworks (some examples):

• OECD/DAC Guidelines on Pest and Pesticide Management prioritize IPM and improved pesticide management, with formats for industry data submission and governmental pesticide evaluation reports (OECD, 1995). The OECD has also initiated a Risk Reduction project (OECD, 2006b).
• The European Commission's "thematic strategy" provides a policy framework to minimize hazards and risks of pesticide use (EC, 2006) filling a regulatory gap in the pesticide cycle between the before-use (product approval) and after-use (impact) stages.
• North American Commission on Environmental Co-operation (NACEC) of NAFTA has established a Sound Management of Chemicals Working Group which has developed action plans to reduce use of specific pesticides (http://www.cec.org/).
• Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought in the Sahel (CILSS) regional convention to support collaborative management and regulation of pesticides (http://80.88.83.202/dbinsah/ index.cfm?lng=en & sect1=avant1 & id=28)

International agreements and treaties:

• The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides (agreed in 1985 and revised in 2002) sets voluntary standards for the management and use of pesticides and provides guidance for the development of national pesticide legislation (FAO, 2005a; http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPP/Pesticid/Code/ PM_Code.htm). FAO is updating its guidelines on pesticide labelling (FAO, 1995b) to include the UN Globally Harmonized System of chemical classification and labelling (FAO, 2006b) and is working with governments and commercial actors to phase out highly toxic pesticides (FAO, 2006ab, 2007).
• The Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (1998) requires that exporting countries

provide notification to importing countries of bans and restrictions on listed pesticides (http://www.pops.int/). By 2006, 107 countries had ratified PIC.

• The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), signed in 2001, provides phaseout plans for an initial twelve pollutants-nine of them pesticides-and defines a process for adding new chemicals such as endosulfan, lindance and chlordecone to the list (http://www.pops.int/). By 2006, 126 countries had ratified the POPs treaty. The nongovernmental International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) works alongside the POPs treaty process.
• The Montréal Protocol (1987) mandates the phasing out of the ozone-depleting pesticide, methyl bromide (http://ozone .unep.org/). The Methyl Bromide Action Network, a coalition of environmental, agriculture and labor organizations, was established in 1993 to assist governments in the transition to affordable, environmentally sound alternatives.
• Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (1994) is a WHO sponsored mechanism to develop and promote strategies and partnerships on chemical safety among national governments and intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations (http://www.who.int/ifcs/en/). The Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals (IOMC) and International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) are two other international coordinating organizations relating to chemicals. The IFCS sponsors a Working Group on Acutely Toxic Pesticides, which maintains a CD-ROM database on acute pesticide poisonings worldwide.
• UNEP's Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (2006) articulates global commitments, strategies and tools for managing chemicals more safely around the world (http://www.chem.unep.ch/saicm/). The agreement emphasizes principles of prevention, polluter pays, substitution for less harmful substances, public participation, precaution, and the public's right to know.
• The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (1992) focuses on controlling the movement of hazardous wastes, ensuring their environmentally sound management and disposal, and preventing illegal waste trafficking (http://ozone.unep.org/). Now ratified by 149 countries including 32 of the 53 African countries, the convention explicitly includes obsolete pesticide stockpiles.
• The Africa Stockpiles Project brings together diverse stakeholders to clean up and safely dispose of obsolete pesticide stocks from Africa and establish preventive measures to avoid future accumulation (http://www.africastockpiles.org/). Initiated by Pesticide Action Network UK and WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF) in 2000, the project is led by FAO (technical assistance on elimination and prevention), PAN and WWF (capacity-building, communication and outreach), CropLife International (financial support and management) and the World Bank (administration of funds).