I had the honor of spending last week with my PAN International colleagues in Nairobi at the U.N. Environment Assembly (UNEA). One of our biggest goals at this meeting was to solidify the commitment by member states of the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) to phase out highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) – which was adopted by governments at the International Conference on Chemicals Management in Bonn, Germany.
Phasing out HHPs has been a PAN priority for decades because these dangerous chemicals are known to cause significant environmental damage, biodiversity collapse, and pose serious threats to health. Exposures to HHPs have been linked to cancer, impaired neurodevelopment in children, reproductive health effects, and endocrine disruption, among other serious conditions.
After many long days of negotiations, UNEA made a historic move for safer food and farming by passing a resolution on HHPs that calls for action to globally phase out the use of the world’s most toxic pesticides by 2035. Tied with this resolution was the passing of a mandate for UNEP to implement this commitment by forming the Global Alliance on HHPs.
This resolution puts teeth to the commitment made last year in Germany. Now, PAN is following the next steps for getting the Global Alliance off the ground and ensuring the transition to agroecology. It’s a big win in the global effort to create more just, sustainable food systems.
I invite you to read more about the resolution in the press release, and stay tuned for more updates about the next step in this campaign.
