Developing effective pesticide policies

Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark were the first of the 24 OECD countries to introduce policy for using pesticides more efficiently. In the early 1990s they set reduction targets of at least 50% within periods of between five and ten years.

FAO has an extensive programme to identify and address sites of stockpiles of pesticides in Africa, and will be looking at other regions of the world.

In march 1998 95 countries including the USA negotiated a prior informed consent treaty requiring exporters of 27 dangerous pesticides and industrial chemicals to demonstrate that the countries that they are shipping to know what they are receiving and what the risks are.