OECD report on environmental impact

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)* Pesticide Forum has agreed Common Guidelines for Pesticide Regulation at a meeting attended by government regulators, pesticide industry representatives, trade unions and environmental NGOs.
    The guidelines, agreed on 10 February, establish two formats-one for industry to use when making pesticide data submissions, the other for governments to use when writing their evaluations. Their purpose is to minimise duplication of effort by industry and governments in pesticide registration and to improve the quality of evaluation reports.
    As part of this process, OECD has also produced a report Agriculture, Pesticides and the Environment that analyses the policies that reduce the risk from pesticide use and promote safer, more effective, and less environmentally damaging handling and application of pesticides. Case studies from Australia, France, Italy, Japan, Sweden, the UK and the US show how government policies affect pesticide use in countries that have very different climatic and geographic conditions, crops grown, and levels of government assistance for agriculture.
    On the basis of the policy analysis and the experiences of Member countries, three main policy conclusions emerge:

Interaction of pesticide use with general agricultural policies This emphasises that agricultural support which is beneficial to the environment should focus directly on measures targeted to environmental outcomes, rather than commodity-linked output and that attention should be paid to the design and implementation criteria of agricultural policies.

The establishment of new markets These can contribute to the improvement of pesticide application and the reduction of environmental impacts of pesticide use. Both markets for pesticide-free products to be established through appropriate labelling, as well as markets for certified personnel licensed to apply the more dangerous pesticides, have a role to play in the context.

Management of technological progress, pesticide application, extension and information Information, such as individual farmers' pesticide use data or other environmental indicators related to pesticide use can be part of a successful mix of policies. Work on agri-environment indicators is currently underway in the OECD. Emphasis needs to be put on facilitating the acquisition of new technologies, pest-resistant crops, and information on 'good farm practices' in pesticide application.

Agriculture, Pesticides and the Environment: Policy Options, OECD Publications, 2 rue Andre-Pascal, 75557 Paris Cedex 16, France, FF80, 68pp.*OECD consists of  29 industrial countries.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 39, March 1998, page 16 ]