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Nineteen staff involved in the authorization of pesticides from Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay met from 7 – 11 May 2018 in Montevideo (Uruguay) to discuss the implementation of the Rotterdam Convention and get acquainted with the FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit. The participants reviewed the benefits and obligations of the Rotterdam Convention as well as ways in which MERCOSUR member countries can collaborate to strengthen pesticide management in the region. Furthermore, the participants were informed about the contents of FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit, and how this new tool can assist pesticide registration authorities to take informed decisions about the pesticides they authorize for use in their respective countries. The various modules of the Toolkit were presented and their navigation and use were practiced. The importance of sound decision making for pesticide registration was discussed, in particular given the need to protect human health and biodiversity while ensuring sustainable intensification of agricultural production in the region. This workshop was organized jointly by FAO and the Rotterdam Convention.

Pesticide regulatory authorities from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia met in Tunis, from 12 – 16 March 2018, to discuss the implementation of the Rotterdam Convention and the FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit. The workshop was attended by 20 experts, members of the national pesticide registration committees and of their technical secretariats as well as Designated National Authorities of the Rotterdam Convention. Participants were initiated in the navigation and use of FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit and discussed how the various modules of the Toolkit could support national pesticide evaluation and authorization. Particular attention was given to ways in which the Toolkit could complement and strengthen the existing national pesticide registration procedures.The meeting also discussed implementation of the Rotterdam Convention, notably the elaboration of notifications of final regulatory actions to ban or severely restrict a pesticide, and the associated risk evaluations. The meeting was primarily funded by the Rotterdam Convention and was organized by its secretariat in collaboration with FAO Subregional Office for North Africa.  

Fourteen staff of the pesticide registration authorities of Cameroon, including two members of the Interstate Committee of Pesticides in Central Africa, gathered in the city of Edea in Cameroon, from 11 – 15 December 2017, to participate in a training on the FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit. The FAO Toolkit is designed to assist pesticide registrars from developing countries in the day-to-day pesticide registration tasks, including risk assessment. It facilitates finding data requirements, evaluating human and environmental risks, and determining risk mitigation measures. The training was organised by FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Cameroon, under the project Disposal of existing POPs and other obsolete pesticides and implementation of a sound pest and pesticide management in Cameroon funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). The participants included staff of the Cameroon National Commission in charge of Pesticide Registration and Certification of Application Equipment (CNHPCAT), staff of the Department of Regulation and Quality Control of Agricultural Products and Inputs (DRCQ) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and staff of the Interstate Committee of Pesticides in Central Africa (CPAC). The key role of these organisations is to ensure that pesticides authorised for use in Cameroon and in the region do not pose unacceptable risks to human health.

A National workshop on the application of the FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit was held in Gaborone, Botswana, December 10-15, 2017. Around 25 participants from different departments participated in the workshop hosted by the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security. This workshop was organized under the framework of GEFF project GCP/BOT/011/GFF – Component 2, "strengthening the pesticide regulatory capacity in Botswana" and aimed to strengthen pesticide regulatory management capacity and coordination between the different departments involved within Botswana. In addition, attention was given to the implementation of the Rotterdam Convention by the Botswana registrars.

A five day regional workshop on the FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit was organized in Hanoi, Vietnam, October 16-20, 2017.Pesticide registrars from three countries, Lao PDR (2), Thailand (3) and Vietnam (17) participated in the training workshop, which was hosted by the Plant Protection Department of Vietnam. The participants were introduced to the Toolkit through presentations and practical exercises and shared experiences with their colleagues from the other participating countries. All participants expressed positive views of the training and the toolkit and the foresee the use of various modules to support future review of pesticide applications and decision making. Information sources, data requirements and the registration strategy “Registration by analogy” was considered particularly useful. The workshop was organized within the framework of the regional programme “Towards a non-toxic South-East Asia”, financed by the government of Sweden.

From 18 - 29 September 2017, FAO hosted a second training-of-trainers workshop on its Pesticide Registration Toolkit. This particular training of trainers focussed on French and Spanish speaking experts, which will enable the Toolkit team to provide Toolkit training in Francophone and Spanish speaking countries and thus reach out to parts of Africa and Latin America. During the training, a global team of experts in pesticide registration and management (Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Mali, Peru and Tunisia) discussed materials developed by FAO to make registration authorities in developing countries aware of the Toolkit and train them in its use. Registration is an important step in management of pesticides. It enables authorities primarily to determine which products are permitted to be used and for what purposes, and also to exercise control over quality, use levels, claims, labelling, packaging and advertising of pesticides. Thus, registration a key step to ensure that the interests of end-users as well as the environment are well protected. This process is particularly complex in countries with limited resources. To help filling this gap, the FAO Toolkit is designed for assisting pesticide registrars from developing countries in the day to day tasks to conduct pesticide registration, including those aspects that concern risk assessment. It facilitates finding data requirements, evaluating human and environmental risks, and determining risk mitigation measures. The Toolkit will also assist registrars in accessing many kinds of pesticide-specific information such as the registration status in other countries, scientific reviews and hazard classifications among others. Hans Dreyer, Director of the Plant Production and Protection Division at FAO, stressed to participants that the FAO Agricultural Department is pursuing sustainable crop production intensification that follows Integrated Pest Management approaches based on agro-ecological principles. Reducing risks of pesticides is an important component that still faces many challenges, and the newly developed FAO Toolkit on Pesticide Registration will provide strong support to pesticide regulatory authorities particularly in developing countries on sound management and risk reduction of pesticides throughout their life cycle.  An extensive programme to roll out the Toolkit in various Francophone and Spanish speaking regions of the world was also established. FAO will continue to develop new modules in the Toolkit and update its contents, to ensure that pesticide registration staff are supported in contributing to sustainable agricultural intensification. For more information, contact Gu Baogen ([email protected])

Un taller regional de seis días sobre el Kit de Herramientas para el Registro de Plaguicidas de la FAO fue organizado del 29 de mayo al 2 de junio de 2017 en Beijing, China. Miembros del personal encargado del registro de plaguicidas de la República Popular de Lao(4), Camboya(4), Filipinas (4), Indonesia (1) y China (15) participaron en este taller de entrenamiento el cual fue  organizado conjuntamente con la Oficina Regional de la FAO para el  Sudeste de Asia e ICAMA, el Instituto Chino para el control de agroquímicos-Ministerio de Agricultura. El Kit de Herramientas fue dado a conocer a los participantes a través de presentaciones, ejercicios prácticos y experiencias compartidas con sus compañeros de los diferentes países participantes.  ICAMA, el instituto anfitrión, presentó sus experiencias con Plaguicidas Altamente Peligrosos  y con modelos de evaluación para los riesgos laborales y ambientales. A pesar de que los países defirieron enormemente en los recursos disponibles y en los enfoques actuales para el registro de plaguicidas, el Kit de Herramientas demostró contener elementos para que cada país mejore las prácticas de registro de acuerdo a su propio nivel de recursos.

Miembros del personal encargado del registro de plaguicidas de 10 países en el Pacífico discutieron  una colaboración regional de gran alcance para fortalecer el registro de plaguicidas. La reunión se llevó a cabo en Nadi, Fiji del 08 al 12 de mayo de 2017 con la finalidad de revisar un borrador del Memorando de Entendimiento entre los países y la Secretaría de la Comunidad del Pacífico (SPC en inglés) para el establecimiento de un Esquema de Gestión y Registro de Plaguicidas del Pacífico. El Kit de Herramientas para el Registro de Plaguicidas de la FAO fue presentado durante la reunión y los participantes tuvieron la oportunidad de navegar en el mismo. Varios modulos del Kit de Herramientas, tales como Toma de decisiones, Estrategias de registro, Métodos de evaluación y Fuentes de información fueron utilizados para proponer métodos que el Comité Regional Asesor de Plaguicidas pueda aplicar al realizar evaluaciones científicas de los plaguicidas.

Un taller nacional sobre el Kit de Herramientas para el Registro de Plaguicidas de la FAO fue organizado del 27 al 31 de marzo de 2017 en Blantyre, Malawi. El taller de entrenamiento fue conducido para fortalecer la capacidad reguladora del Consejo de Control de Plaguicidas y asegurar la gestión racional de plaguicidas. Los estudiantes incluyeron 8 miembros del personal del Consejo de Control de Plaguicidas (Oficina de Registro y grupo de inspección), dos miembros del Equipo Técnico del PCB y el Coordinador del Proyecto de la FAO. Durante el taller, a los participantes fueron presentados los contenidos del Kit de Herramientas y ejercicios prácticos para permitirles hacer uso del mismo en su trabajo cotidiano. Una de las recomendaciones de los participantes de este taller fue incluir en el Kit de Herramientas un glosario de la terminología frecuentemente usada en el registro de plaguicidas el cual ha sido ya implementado en la Sección de Términos y Definiciones en la página web. El taller estuvo financiado por el Proyecto de Reducción de Plaguicidas en Malawi.

La FAO organizó un taller sobre el Kit de Herramientas de Plaguicidas del 07 al 11 de febrero de 2017 en la ciudad de Claxton Bay, Trinidad. Veinte personas provenientes de 13 países caribeños participaron en el taller. Los participantes fueron tanto  personal de las autoridades de registro o personas involucradas en la evaluación y autorización de plaguicidas. El taller incluyó la estructura y los contenidos del Kit de Herramientas de la FAO y consistió en presentaciones, discusiones, ejercicios y casos de estudio. Los participantes se familiarizaron con los diferentes módulos del Kit de Herramientas y expresaron sentirse  cómodos durante la  navegación y su uso. El personal de Registro de Plaguicidas consideró que el Kit de Herramientas es muy útil para su trabajo cotidiano. El taller ha proporcionado nuevos  conocimientos acerca de las opciones y los métodos que pueden ser utilizados para la evaluación de un plaguicida. Los participantes también destacaron  la importancia de una colaboración regional y del intercambio de información en el Caribe.