The Pesticides Action Network International (PAN), comprising 373 Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples Organizations in 74 countries, have called for a global target to phase-out Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HPP) in agriculture by 2030.
In a letter directed to the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management UN Environment Programme, Geneva Switzerland recently, the group also demanded a target for all countries to prohibit the export of substances that they have prohibited nationally, implement policies and programs to support safer and more sustainable non-chemical alternatives to HHPs, especially agroecology; while also supporting the proposal of African governments to establish a Global Alliance on Highly Hazardous Pesticides working to phase-out HHPs.
“Each day, Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs) are systematically released across vast areas of the earth. While all pesticides can be dangerous, HHPs are a special group of pesticides that are too hazardous for use.
“HHPs make up a relatively small share of all registered pesticides. Yet, they cause the most severe harm to human health and the environment. The International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM) and the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) play a crucial role in eliminating harms caused by HHPs.
“Other international policy forums and frameworks, including multilateral agreements on climate change and biodiversity loss, have made significant targeted political commitments on major crises that pose existential threats to humanity and the planet.
“However, HHPs have remained largely unaddressed. For the past 17 years, actions on HHPs have been slow and piecemeal. Further delay and inaction is no longer an option. We, the undersigned organizations, call on the ICCM 5 to implement ambitious targets and corresponding delivery mechanisms and activities to phase-out HHPs, the letter reads in part.
It therefore urged governments, policymakers, and other stakeholders to act with ambition and urgency to phase-out HHPs as the only way to decisively address their monumental harms if the Sustainable Development Goals are to be achieved, avert collapse of the ecological, and uphold human rights including the right to food and the right of future generations to a clean and healthy environment.