Evaluating and managing risks posed by pesticides

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Evaluating and managing risks posed by pesticides

• Environmental and other factors
• Hans Løkke

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Outline

• Experiences from the Sahel region
• PRéLISS
• Mango IPM
• The DPSIR model
• Drivers
• Pressures
• States
• Impacts
• Responses (management)
• Information strategies
• Conclusions

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Experiences from the Sahel region- PRéLISS

• Work performed within the PRéLISS project on
  susstainable grasshopper regulation in Niger,
  Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal
• Most pesticides are used in national arial
  spraying programmes conducted by Plant
  Directorates
• The extent of local ground based spraying is small

Programme Régional de Lutte intégrée contre les
Sauteriaux au Sahel
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PRéLISS.org

• Implementation of a decision support system for
  the control of the Senegalese grasshopper
• IPM pesticides yes/no - or - metarhizium

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Oedaleus senegalensis
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Migration
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PRéLISS II

• Implementation of a decision support system on
  the control of the Senegalese grasshopper at the
  Regional Centre AGRHYMET in Niger and the Plant
  Protection Institutes in Niger, Senegal, Burkina
  Faso and Mali
• Systematise the grasshopper data sampling
  programmes that are already carried out by the
  Plant Protection Institutes - the input data
  required by the model
• Implement a rapid electronic system to transfer
  sampling data and output from the decision
  support system
• Education and capacity building of personnel at
  AGRHYMET and the Plant Protection Institutes
• Dissemination of knowledge on grasshopper ecology
  and grasshopper control achieved during PRéLISS I
  and PRéLISS II

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Modelisation
User interface

• There are three models in the decision support
  system
• 1. SahelEco a complicated ecosystem model
  (without GIS)
• 2. A more simple model based on the model of
  Launois, 1979
• 3. A strong spatial model, resolution 1 km2.
  Input data from satellite images
• The three models have almost the same user
  interface

Model 1
Model 2
Model 3
Grasshopper data
GIS
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Sampling of grasshopper data

• Aim
• to have input data for the models of the decision
  support system
• to have data for validation purposes
• modify the sampling programs at the Plant
  Protection Institutes to provide the data
  required by the decision support system

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Weaver ants as biocontrol agents in fruit trees

• Have been used in citrus in Southeast Asia for
  centuries
• IPM with weaver ants in mango in Australia
• A native species in Africa
• Prey on almost all insects

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The main problem is fruit flies

• Causes enourmous losses all over tropical Africa

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Initial results

• Very promising results from Benin 90 reduction
  in pupae from mangos from ant trees
• Weaker but positive results from pilot
  experiments in Senegal

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Learnings from Sahel

• Local spraying of cotton is a major problem
  young people/children used for spraying
• Pesticide containers are used for drinking water
  and food storage
• Need for better local organisation Knowledge
  transfer from extension services to non-educated
  farmers is difficult
• Limiting factors Water, fertilisers, quality
  seeds, quality pesticides
• Extension services need resources (vehicles,
  fuel)
• Need for control of pesticide quality, and for
  bringing illegal products and banned pesticides
  to light

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Which international risk assessment tools are
available from Europe?

• New EU pesticides legislation comprehensive
  regulation dealing with almost all topics from
  production to licensing of pesticides
• Not covering cocktail effects, combinations of
  pesticides and other stressors
• The principle of Integrated Pest Management is
  laid down, i.e. the promotion of non-chemical
  pest control methods such as crop rotation, to be
  used wherever possible as alternatives to
  pesticides

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• Aerial crop spraying will in general be banned
• Special protection of the aquatic environment and
  drinking water ("buffer zones" or "safeguard
  zones)
• Minimum use of pesticides in parks, public
  gardens, sports and recreation grounds, school
  grounds and playgrounds and in the close vicinity
  of healthcare facilities.
• Training of pesticide users and salespeople, on
  handling and storage
• Awareness-raising and inspection of pesticides
  application equipment.  

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US risk assessment tools

• United States of America EPA
• Regulates the use of pesticides under the
  authority of two federal statutes
• the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and
  Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)
• the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA)
• comprehensive regulations dealing with almost
  all topics from production to licensing of
  pesticides  

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DPSIR model

• Driving forces
• Pressures
• States
• Impacts
• Responses

European Environment Agency (EEA)
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DPSIR model

• As a first step, data and information on all the
  different elements in the DPSIR chain is
  collected. Then possible connections between
  these different aspects are postulated. Through
  the use of the DPSIR modelling framework, it is
  possible to gauge the effectiveness of responses
  put into place

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Drivers

• Social and economic factors
• Growth and size of human population
• Technological change
• Economic growth
• Political and social institutions
• Culture
• Knowledge and information exchange
• Agricultural area by crops (cereal, oil crops,
  forage, woodlands)
• Agricultural intensity
• Area and use of grasslands
• Irrigation of agricultural land
• Climate change (temperature, humidity)

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Pressures

• Pesticide use
• Total agricultural land
• Harvesting pressure
• Livestock
• Use of fertilisers
• Introduced species and genomes

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States

• Soil fertility
• Special habitat remaining
• Ecosystem quality
• Number of wild species
• Number of keystone species
• Erosion

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Impact

• Worker exposure
• Toxic waste/obsolete pesticides
• Home and personal use
• Drinking water and food
• Environmental impact
• husbandry
• wildlife
• biodiversity

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Impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity

• Reduced abundancy of birds and mammal species
• Impact on pollinators
• Reduced soil biodiversity
• Impact on plant species composition and abundance
• Loss of specialised, threatened plant species,
  mosses and epilithic lichens
• Loss of natural enemies of pests
• Loss of molluscs, crustacean species and fishes
• Fragmentation of landscape

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Responses

• Ban of most toxic pesticides
• Warning systems and decision support systems
• Crop-rotation regime determines the levels of
  diseases, weeds and pests
• Information strategies for presenting know-how
  and guidance on plant protection and risks to the
  environment
• Alternative methods of controlling and preventing
  pests
• Training in organisation and sharing of knowledge

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Information strategies

• Human health risks (direct contact, food residue
  intake, risks to livestock)
• Safe pesticide storage and application
• Handling of pesticides in connection with the
  filling and cleaning of sprays
• Environmental risks
• Soil and water pollution
• Indoor applications

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Advanced information strategies

• Appraisal of the relationships between yield
  losses, time of spraying and residual
  concentrations in foodstuffs
• Preventive strategies through crop choice and
  technical factors, including the influence of
  fertilisation level on pests
• Population dynamics of pests in different
  cultivation systems/farms

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Alternative methods of controlling and preventing
pests

• Resistent varieties
• Biological control/pest control
• Mechanical weed control
• Measures to avoid seed-born diseases
• GMO crops

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Warning systems and decision support systems

• For predicting situations in which significant
  attacks could develop, which should averted by
  spraying
• Decision support systems, which incorporate
  prevention and chemical control for special crops

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Main conclusions

• Prerequisites for success of management
• Organisation skill
• Sharing of knowledge

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Conclusions on information strategy

• Elucidate methods that are considered to show
  special potential on a local scale
• Ensure political and economic support to the
  methods
• Introduce preventive and non-chemical methods of
  control
• Substitute with less toxic compounds
• Implement information strategy and document
  efficiency by monitoring

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Thank you for your attention

• Thanks to the PRéLISS team (preliss.org)