Declaration of Ljubljana - Pesticide Resistance Management in Europe

Ljubljana, 23 April 2008: Leading European agricultural experts gathered in Ljubljana (Slovenia) on 22 April 2008 in order to present the Slovenian EU presidency with a declaration on potential risks of the proposed EU legislation. The scientists from seven countries fear that reducing the available range of pesticides could lower their efficiency as it is likely that it will increase resistance. Read the full Declaration.

Leading European agricultural experts gathered at the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, in Ljubljana on 22 April 2008, to evaluate the potential impact of proposals to revise Directive 91/414/EEC, on the sustainability of resistance management in Europe

The workshop noted that resistance to insecticides, fungicides and herbicides is already a serious problem for production of a number of major and minor European crops. Many established pesticides have already been lost, as a consequence of the ongoing re-registration programme.

• The most sustainable solution to pest control is continued access to a diversity of pest management tools that can be combined in IPM (integrated pest management) practices.

• Chemical control is often an essential component of IPM. Pesticide resistance is therefore a continuing threat to IPM.

• For many applications, competitive and effective non-chemical solutions are not currently available.

• Resistance management requires access to a diversity of chemistries, with different modes of action. Fewer registered compounds would result in increased resistance problems with those which remain on the market.

• Implementation of hazard-based cut-off criteria could:

  • Have a disproportionate impact, resulting in loss of whole classes of chemistry.

  • Compromise the possibility to combat new pest problems, whether crop related or posing threats to human health.

  • Reduce further the rate of new active substance discovery and development.

• An increasing lack of pesticide solutions will:

  • lead to reduced yield,

  • endanger food predictability and security

  • make production of certain crops uncompetitive in the EU

  • impact the environment, due to increasing application rates, reliance on

  • single active substances, and illegal use

• Sufficient chemical diversity (modes of action) must be maintained for sustainable resistance management

• Decisions to register or prohibit compounds should be based on scientific risk assessment and not hazard based criteria

• Special attention should be given to the limited availability of IPM compatible and low resistance risk pesticides

• A fast-track process should be considered for innovative solutions for unfulfilled needs

• As minor uses will be most impacted by the revision of the directive, incentives should be provided for solutions addressing these needs

• Where available, cultural methods should be used, to minimise the need for chemical intervention