{"id":28779,"date":"2021-02-26T00:01:05","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T04:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=28779"},"modified":"2021-02-25T20:00:13","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T00:00:13","slug":"current-and-projected-patterns-of-global-pesticide-and-fertilizer-use-are-not-sustainable-says-un-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2021\/02\/current-and-projected-patterns-of-global-pesticide-and-fertilizer-use-are-not-sustainable-says-un-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Current and Projected Patterns of Global Pesticide and Fertilizer Use Are Not Sustainable, Says UN. . .Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

(Beyond Pesticides<\/em>, February 26, 2021) The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP<\/a>), the environment arm of the highest-profile international organization (the UN), has issued a draft report whose top finding is this<\/a>: \u201cThe global goal to minimize adverse impacts of chemicals and waste by 2020 has not been achieved for pesticides and fertilizers.\u201d Increased use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers \u2014 driven by rising demand for food, feed, fiber, fuel, and feedstock crops \u2014 is cited as causal, at least in part. Those factors no doubt contributed to the failure, but Beyond Pesticides asserts that such increased uses are symptomatic of the larger issue: in the U.S. and globally, chemical agriculture is a dangerous dead-end for public and environmental health. According to Beyond Pesticides: With this dominant system in place, \u201creductions\u201d in use and impact are laudable but wholly insufficient. The whole system of petrochemical farming needs to be transitioned to organic, regenerative practices in agriculture<\/a>, and in all land management. Such systems do not cause health<\/a> and environmental<\/a> harms, but are beneficent, viable, and profitable<\/a>. The report warns that, going forward, \u201cBusiness-as-usual is not an option.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The UNEP draft report<\/a> was produced just ahead of the fifth\u00a0session of the\u00a0UN Environment Assembly<\/a> (UNEA-5), which met virtually on February 22 and 23. The International Institute for Sustainable Development, or IISD, writes that the UNEP report<\/a> \u201caims to improve the understanding of current practices and drivers of pesticide and fertilizer use, as well as identify knowledge gaps regarding environmental and health risks. The report addresses current management practices, legislation, and policies. It also identifies opportunities for transformative actions and enabling policies to minimize adverse environmental and health impacts.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Background on this report includes multiple conferences, documents, and commitments that fall under the broad Agenda 21 umbrella<\/a>. Pointedly, the 2012 Rio+20 conference produced an outcome document, The Future We Want<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> through which member states \u201creaffirmed their commitment to achieve, by 2020, the sound management of chemicals throughout their life cycle and of hazardous waste in ways that lead to minimization of significant adverse effects to human health and the environment.\u201d In 2015, via Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development<\/em><\/a>, members \u201cre-confirmed to \u2018reduce the negative impacts of urban activities and of chemicals which are hazardous for human health and the environment, including through the environmentally sound management and safe use of chemicals.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The UNEP report notes<\/a> the global failure to live up to these goals, given that in 2020, production and use of pesticides and fertilizers continued to increase, with combined sales growing at about 4.1% per year and projected to reach $309 billion by 2025. It also acknowledges the ubiquity of pesticides and their degradates in the global environment: \u201cPesticides are omnipresent in the environment, including in soils and surface and groundwater, and are frequently detected at levels that exceed legal or environmental standards.\u201d\u00a0And it nods to the myriad health harms they cause: \u201cacute and long-term health impacts, with an estimated 385 million cases of non-fatal unintentional pesticide poisonings every year and approximately 11,000 deaths.\u00a0Pesticide exposure is associated with\u00a0cancers and neurological, immunological, and reproductive effects, among other health impacts.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

In addition, the UNEP notes the adverse impacts of pesticides on nontarget species, which exacerbate the biodiversity crisis \u2014 the subject of a UN 2019 report, the IPBES Global Assessment Summary for Policymakers<\/em><\/a>; and the climbing rates of resistance to pesticides in organisms and weeds (as the UN has done previously<\/a>), as well as fertilizers\u2019 degradation of ecosystems, pollution of water systems from runoff, and contributions to climate change. Beyond Pesticides has reported<\/a>, additionally, on the UN\u2019s identification of pesticide use as a human rights violation<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

The report recommends a series of actions<\/a>, including:<\/p>\r\n