AVOIDING OR REDUCING
PESTICIDE HAZARDS IN AFRICA
tinyurl.com/6e7bbu8 Comments and contributions are welcome to:
georgeeks at gmail dot com * The 'FAO Code' - primary guiding principle for pesticide management in Africa? * Despite endorsement by most if not all FAO member states in Africa (see endorsements of July 2009), the International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides is anything but widely adopted and implemented in African national pesticide legislation. In 2007, the latest survey indicated that in Africa only Burkina Faso, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, Seychelles and South Africa had implemented the provisions of the Code as the basis for a comprehensive life-cycle approach to pesticide management. CropLife International has called upon FAO, WHO, UNEP and other 'code owners' to promote the Code as the primary guiding principle for chemicals (read 'agrochemicals' or 'pesticides') management. Source: CropLife International, Crop Protection Stewardship - Vision 2020. READ MORE: * Worst pests * Visit BBC NEWS to find out about
* Global pesticide market estimates for 2014 and 2016 * World pesticide demand in 2014 is predicted to reach USD 52 000 million (to be compared with USD 45 000 million in 2009 and USD 37 000 million in 2004). Demand in Africa/Middle East is predicted to increase from USD 1 300 million in 2004 to USD 2 200 million in 2014. The global market for 'crop protection chemicals', in terms of active ingredient volume is expected to reach 2.9 million tons in 2016 (to be compared with 2.4 million tons in 2010). No data for Africa/Middle East.
* Put farming first - Watch Farming First's green economy video * * Slogans A.D. 2012 * 'Meeting challenges in a growing world' 'Do good - Do no harm' 'Fiat panis' (Latin for 'let there be bread') 'Grow more from less' 'Don't be evil' 'We try harder' 'We bring good things to life' 'Just do it' Slogans used by the World Bank (#2, in their Pest Management Guidelines), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (#3), Swedish international public health professor Hans Rosling (#6), and six major business entities. * PIC Pesticides in Context * The Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure of the Rotterdam Convention currently covers 26 individually named pesticides (active ingredients); all mercury compounds used as pesticides; tributyltin pesticides; selected formulated products ('severely hazardous formulations') of three active ingredients; and selected mixed formulations of another three active ingredients.  * 'POPs' Pesticides in Context * Out of 887 chlorinated pesticides twenty-five are often referred to as organochlorines based on intrinsic characteristics as well as chemical composition. Out of the twenty-five fourteen are further characterized as cyclodienes of which four are 'drins'. Fourteen of the twenty-five are persistent organic pollutants (POPs) under the Stockholm Convention.  * The Gothenburg Award for 2011 goes to Mr Kofi Annan and the Tigray Project (Ethiopia) ** New OISAT Field Guide * PAN Germany has published the 13th field guide (on sweet potato production) in a series on non-chemical pest management in the tropics. Each field guide focuses on just one crop and deals with all relevant information on how to manage agricultural pests without using chemical pesticides. Two field guides focus on a specific pesticide to be avoided. Read more here * The World's Top Ten Toxic Pollution Problems 2011 * Using data collected over the past three years from thousands of toxic hotspots, the The World’s Worst Toxic Pollution Problems 2011 Report identifies the top ten toxic pollution threats, and for the first time, calculates their health impacts. Released by the Blacksmith Institute in collaboration with Green Cross Switzerland, the report reveals the most targeted picture of pollution’s toll to date. Research and documentation of this scale has never been done before, and the crucial information gathered in the report will help to prioritize life-saving cleanup efforts. Read more here Out of ten major threats (in 2011) pesticide pollution from agricultural production ranks as No 3. Pesticide pollution from pesticide manufacturing and storage ranks as No 10. In 2010, pesticides ranked as problem area 5 out of six major toxic threats. In 2009, removing DDT from Old Korogwe in Tanzania was one of that year's twelve most successful cases of cleanup. Read more here * UNITAR supports national SAICM portal but fails to update its own national profile website * Kenya has established a SAICM Kenya web portal suported by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). The portal has a link to Kenya's new National Profile on Chemicals Management (click here). The portal also contains a link to Kenya's Chemical Policy for Implementing SAICM (click here). UNITAR's own National Profile homepage does not mention Kenya among countries in Africa with a National Profile on chemicals management. * 'Millennium Villages' and Sound Management of Chemicals in Africa *   Millennium Villages Read about the Millennium Villages here Read an extract from the UNECA report here
< Most recent update January 24, 2012 > | Chengetedzai mishonga yakakiirwa kure nevana (leaflet in Shona) Colour codes and pictograms for pesticide labels From Arusha to Wittulsberg (stakeholders' symposium) Viuatilifu vinadhuru na ni sumo (leaflet in Swahili) Understanding pesticide labels (English-language templet for Swahili version) |
