Review of FSC pesticides and chemical policy
Background
In May 2005 FSC began to review its policy with regards to the management and certification of plantation in 2005.
One of the key issues that emerged was concerns about the use of pesticides in FSC certified forests and particularly in plantations. In light of these concerns the Policy Group specified the following two main issues to be addressed in the existing FSC Pesticides Policy:
- Systems for integrated pest management;
- Monitoring of long term health and environmental effects.
In consideration of the aforementioned issues, the Policy Group recommended the adoption of a consistent best practice integrated chemicals management approach by certified operations, which ensures:
- That chemical application remains site specific, and eliminates significant downstream and adjacent effects;
- That there a full declaration of chemical usage – quantities; types; frequency; and protocols;
- The adoption of procedures and mechanisms to avoid, mitigate and provide fair compensation for negative impacts of pesticide use on workers, local communities, and the environment;
- The monitoring of, and reporting on, such safety, health and quality controls;
- Managers having to demonstrate the results of efforts they have made to avoid or reduce pesticides use;
- The demonstrable ongoing investigation into, and evaluation of, chemical free alternatives to pest control;
- The active provision of information to local communities and workers about use and application of pesticides.
The Technical review process
As part of the overall review of the FSC Pesticides Policy, an Expert Panel review that was set in December 2006 to review and validate the FSC indicators and thresholds for identifying ‘highly ‘hazardous pesticides. In March 2007, a technical report was produced based on which the FSC list of ‘highly hazardous’ pesticides was updated. In November 2007, the FSC Board of Directors approved a Technical Working Group to develop guidance documents taking into account of the recommendations from the Policy working group during the first phase.
The main tasks of the Technical Group were to develop:
- A guide on integrated pest, disease and weed management, which will assist managers in demonstrating that they have a strategy for reducing, minimizing or eliminating the impact of any remaining pesticide use, as is required by FSC criterion 6.6.
- A guide on invasive species, which assist managers in limiting and if possible preventing the spread of pests and invasive alien species from one plantation to another, and if practicle from one part of the world to another.
- An online resource center for forest and plantation managers where they can learn and share information about best practices on chemical use and non-chemical alternatives to pest control.
- A data recording sheet for forest managers to report on the area, type, amount of pesticides use annually – for use in measuring the impact of the FSC Pesticides policy on human health and the environment.
- Provide input to the Working Group for the review of the FSC Principles and Criteria, proposing recommended revisions pertaining to chemicals wherever necessary.
To date, the Technical group has produced its first drafts on all the five aspects above and these will be circulated for stakeholder consultation from the 10th June to 10th July 2008.
Next Steps
All the comments from the consultation process will be incorporated to produce a second draft which will be field tested within an FSC certified forest management operation in Brazil. The results from the field testing will be taken into account to produce the final draft of an IPM Guide, an online resource center and a monitoring structure for measuring the impacts of FSC’s Pesticides policy on human health and the environment. The IPM guide will assist managers in demonstrating that they have a strategy for reducing, minimising or eliminating the impact of any remaining pesticide use, as is required by FSC criterion 6.6. The online resource center for forest and plantation managers where they can learn and share information about best practices on chemical use and non-chemical alternatives to pest control.
How to comment
All comments to the IPM guide and the associated documents should be sent to Frank Katto: f.katto @fsc.org.
