IPM policy change for World Bank

World Bank staff have agreed that their existing policy on pest management should be revised to reflect the importance of farmer-driven, knowledge-intensive and ecologically based approaches. At an October 1997 meeting in Washington DC, US,  with staff from Pesticide Action Network (PAN) North America, Consumers Union's Consumer Policy Institute (CPI), Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and several other non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Bank staff committed themselves to carry out this task. The meeting came nearly one year after a letter signed by over 180 NGOs and concerned individuals was sent to the World Bank protesting the drastic weakening of its pest management policy. 
    Specifically, Bank staff agreed to:

• include in the revised integrated pest management (IPM) policy a commitment to reduce reliance on chemical pesticides in Bank-funded projects;

• recommend revisions in the Bank's 1996 IPM policy to reflect the importance of farmer-driven, participatory and ecologically based approaches;

• finalize the establishment of a new full-time IPM specialist position.  The Bank promised to fill the position by the end of 1997 with an expert in ecologically-based, farmer-driven IPM credible to the NGO community. 

In another breakthrough, Bank staff  publicly agreed for the first time with the NGO position that the pesticide industry should have no formal role in the Global IPM Facility, a multi-agency programme led by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization that promotes farmer-led ecological pest management.

PANUPS, Pesticide Action North America,  US, (see page 2 for details), 12 December, 1997.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 39, March 1998, page 15 ]