by Jago Wadley, International Advocacy Manager

This week, PAN UK will apply for membership of the new Global Alliance on Highly Hazardous Pesticides (GAHHPs). We encourage all relevant actors in agriculture and food systems to join this important new initiative and contribute to its success.

Applications can be made via the website of the Global Framework on Chemicals (GFC)

Membership means joining a coalition of willing governments, companies, sustainable agriculture initiatives, CSOs, and other stakeholders working to phase out the most dangerous pesticides in agriculture in line with global commitments.

The establishment of the Global Alliance on HHPs was authorized through a resolution adopted alongside the Global Framework on Chemicals (GFC), in 2023, to catalyse proactive multistakeholder collaboration to phase out the use of HHPs in agriculture, in support of Target A7 of GFC.

Delegates from PAN International and regional PANs hand a petition to the Chair of the 5th International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM5), calling for the establishment of the Global Alliance on HHPs. September 2023.

Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs) are a subset of particularly toxic pesticides that cause by far the most harm to people, biodiversity, and the environment.

PAN UK and colleagues across PAN International were central to the conception and negotiation of both GFC target A7 to phase out HHPs, and the resolution authorizing the Global Alliance on HHPs.

Since October last year, representatives of PAN International’s regional offices participated in a multi-stakeholder Interim Steering Committee appointed by a UN-Task Force to establish the GAHHPs. PAN International nominated me to represent it in that committee, which also elected me as a co-chair.

Having successfully drawn up terms of reference for membership of the GAHHPs, and its Advisory Council, the iSC will now process membership applications, and then appoint an Advisory Council from the membership that will take over governance of the Alliance.

It is expected that a formal launch of the GAHHPs will occur at the First International Conference (IC-1) of the Global Framework on Chemicals in Geneva in November. The GAHHPs will then produce an Action Plan to inspire and encourage members in taking measures to phase out HHPs in the coming months and years.

PAN UK and colleagues across PAN International have high hopes for the GAHHPs, and we encourage all relevant actors in agriculture and food systems to join and contribute to its success.

We anticipate that many governments will join (for example, during its negotiation the GAHHPs was unanimously promoted by all countries of the Africa Union), but PAN UK is also keen for private sector actors and initiatives with an interest in tackling HHPs to join the GAHHPs.

PAN UK has worked for many years to advise and assist agricultural sustainability standards, frameworks, and certification schemes to develop and implement sound policies and practices on pesticides.

Many of the initiatives we have advised now have policies that are highly aligned with the HHP phase out central to the GFC and Global Alliance, and are already actively working to implement them in operations worldwide.

Such examples of private sector implementation can help drive ambition and implementation across the GAHHPs as a whole, and help governments understand the agronomic and economic feasibility of phasing out HHPs and take steps to support it.

But enough talk: I need to submit our application!