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Info Service on Sustainable Agriculture FAO Director General urged to begin new term with action to end pesticide industry partnership, phase-out Highly Hazardous Pesticides July 26, 2023 Today, 11 global civil society and Indigenous Peoples organizations representing small-scale farmers, agricultural workers, trade unions, and rights holders urged Mr. Qu Dongyu to begin his new term as Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on a positive note by ending a controversial partnership with the pesticide industry signed during his previous term, and taking leadership on global action to phase-out Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs). At its 43rd Conference early in July, the FAO appointed Mr. Qu as Director General for a second term of four years. The appointment, which was uncontested with no other nominations, comes at the heels of an investigative report revealing shipments of pesticides that FAO made to several countries during the Director General’s first term, while a partnership agreement with CropLife International (CLI), the association of world’s largest agrochemical companies, was in place. In a letter to DG Qu, the groups asked the Director General to publicly clarify the status of the FAO’s indefinite Letter of Intent (LOI) with CropLife. They reiterated their appeal to rescind the nearly three-year-old agreement that promotes deeper ties between the UN agency and the pesticide industry, an appeal echoed by more than 430 civil society and Indigenous Peoples organizations, 250 scientists and academics, nearly 50 philanthropic groups, nearly 200,000 individuals from over 107 countries, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Michael Fakhri. The groups also asked DG Qu to “review and discontinue” shipments of all pesticides. Some pesticides included in the FAO shipments, such as paraquat and chlorpyrifos, are considered highly hazardous and are already banned in numerous countries. Paraquat, for example, is highly lethal and has been recommended by the Chemical Review Committee to be listed under the Rotterdam Convention, while chlorpyrifos is damaging to children’s brains at low amounts and is being considered for a global ban under the Stockholm Convention. According to the report, the producers of pesticides shipped by FAO include Syngenta-ChemChina, a member of CropLife. “Your new term as Director-General is a fresh opportunity for the FAO to show that the pesticide industry does not hold sway over its policies and decisions. All of the FAO’s dealings with the pesticide industry must be subject to greater transparency and accountability,” the letter to DG Qu stated. The groups also underscored that an upcoming world chemicals conference is a not-to-be-missed opportunity for the FAO to act decisively on an earlier recommendation made by the FAO Council to phase-out Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs). “We ask the FAO to support the global phase-out of HHPs at the upcoming Fifth session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management in September 2023. To remain relevant, a new policy framework under the Strategic Approach on International Chemical Management (SAICM) must set an ambitious target to phase-out HHPs and establish a clear, effective, and multistakeholder mechanism to achieve this,” the groups said. The 11 civil society and IP groups called on the FAO leadership to fulfill its human rights obligations as a key UN institution, and strengthen its commitment to sustainable agri-food systems by supporting the urgent demands of various stakeholders–led by African governments–to set up the Global Alliance on HHPs, a global mechanism to phase-out HHPs under SAICM. “Many HHPs have been phased-out in several countries without affecting agricultural productivity…With adequate investment in scaling-up ecological alternatives–in which the FAO already plays a key role–it is possible to phase-out the relatively small share of pesticides that cause the most severe harm to human health and the environment,” the groups stressed. —————————————————————————————————————————————————– July 26, 2023 Qu
Dongyu Dear Director-General Qu Dongyu, As you begin your second term as the Director-General of the FAO, we, representatives of civil society, Indigenous Peoples and trade union organizations, would like to seek clarity on the official status of the indefinite Letter of Intent (LOI) signed between FAO and CropLife International (CLI) in October 2020. During your previous term, more than 430 civil society and Indigenous Peoples organizations, 250 scientists and academics, nearly 50 philanthropic groups, nearly 200,000 individuals from over 107 countries, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food have asked the FAO leadership to end this partnership agreement that promotes deeper ties between the agency and the pesticide industry. We would like to reiterate that the agreement with CLI continues to threaten the FAO’s integrity, credibility, impartiality, and independence. As we have elaborated in previous appeals, it did not undergo the FAO’s new due diligence framework for private sector partnerships and should be rescinded immediately. This demand to formally end the agreement with CLI gains urgency in light of information that the FAO made shipments of pesticides to several countries from 2020 to 2022. The information, revealed in an investigative report broadcast in Germany, is highly concerning. Some pesticides included in the FAO shipments, such as paraquat and chlorpyrifos, are considered highly hazardous and are already banned in numerous countries. There is no known antidote to paraquat, which has been recommended by the Chemical Review Committee to be listed under the Rotterdam Convention as a severely hazardous pesticide formulation. Chlorpyrifos, which can cause brain damage to children even in low amounts, has been banned in the EU in 2020 and is being considered for a global ban under the Stockholm Convention. We ask the FAO to review and discontinue shipments of all pesticides. We also ask the FAO to disclose information about all of its pesticide shipments in a regular and transparent manner. Your new term as Director-General is a fresh opportunity for the FAO to show that the pesticide industry does not hold sway over its policies and decisions. All of the FAO’s dealings with the pesticide industry must be subject to greater transparency and accountability–this includes the Hand-in-Hand Initiative, a forum that facilitates private sector investments to Member States which you explicitly invited the CLI to participate in on the day the LOI was signed. It is also a timely occasion for decisive action on progressively banning Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs), as recommended by the FAO Council as early as 2006. We ask the FAO to support the global phase-out of HHPs at the upcoming Fifth session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management in September 2023. To remain relevant, a new policy framework under the Strategic Approach on International Chemical Management (SAICM) must set an ambitious target to phase-out HHPs and establish a clear, effective, and multistakeholder mechanism to achieve this. Many HHPs have been phased-out in several countries without affecting agricultural productivity. Agroecological alternatives exist for many HHPs, including paraquat and chlorpyrifos. With adequate investment in scaling-up ecological alternatives–in which the FAO already plays a key role–it is possible to phase-out the relatively small share of pesticides that cause the most severe harm to human health and the environment. We cannot afford for the FAO to merely propose to eliminate or phase-out ‘risk’ from HHPs, rather than eliminating their use. The perpetuation of the risk assessment and mitigation management model that the pesticide industry has promoted for decades is a perpetuation of the use of HHPs and their unacceptable harms. We need the FAO to promote a level of ambition of action on HHPs commensurate with the will of many SAICM stakeholders, and the imperative to urgently address the escalating biodiversity, climate, human health, and human rights crises. We trust that your commitment to engage meaningfully with civil society, Indigenous Peoples and trade unions as rights holders will result in actions that affirm the FAO as a positive force in ensuring a just agricultural transition for the planet, people and our future generations. Sincerely, Maïmouna
Diene, Chair Million
Belay, Coordinator David
Azoulay, Environmental Health Program Director Sofía
Monsalve, Secretary General Kirtana
Chandrasekaran and Martín Drago, Food Sovereignty Program Coordinators Sophia
Murphy, Executive Director Andrea
Carmen, Executive Director Pam
Miller and Tadesse Amera, Co-Chairs Sue
Longley, General Secretary Laurent
Gaberell and Carla Hoinkes, Agriculture and Food Experts Chee
Yoke Ling, Executive Director
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