Title: Designing pesticide reduction targets for the UK
The Pesticide Collaboration have just released ths excellent report outlining a path forward to pesticide reductions. Author, Baskut Tuncak – Director of the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute and former UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on human rights and toxics explains why reductions are important and what is needed. Setting a suite of measurable reduction targets to minimise the harm caused by pesticides will bring a wide range of benefits. It sends a clear message from Government that reversing nature’s decline and protecting human health are priorities. The UK Government has already implied numerous times that it believes reducing the impact of pesticides is important. However, without reduction targets there is no over-arching framework to either drive or measure progress towards this ambition. Setting a clear direction of travel is important to drive innovation, focus attention on safer and more sustainable alternatives, and to provide reassurance to farmers and other pesticide users that they will receive support to enable them to contribute towards meeting reduction targets. Of course, targets and indicators alone are unlikely to be sufficient to reach their objectives. Supporting systems must be established, including research and development, as well as systems for the deployment and adoption of safer alternatives. Farmers and other users will require financial, technical, political and consumer support to ensure that more sustainable solutions are adopted. Download full report here
