Partenariat mondial sur les sols

Zero-draft Code of Conduct for the Use and Management of Fertilizers | ONLINE CONSULTATION

After an online consultation between 21 December 2017 and 11 February 20181 and with the support of an open-ended working group (OEWG) of fertilizer experts, the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS) produced a zero-draft International Code of Conduct for the Use and Management of Fertilizers.

18/06/2018

We are very grateful to all of you who contributed to the process so far and for all of your valuable feedback and comments that helped produce the Fertilizer Code in its current form. For those of you who are new to this forum and process, we welcome your participation and encourage you to refer to the previous consultation for further background information.

This week, the Fertilizer Code was presented to the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) at their 6th Plenary Assembly. The feedback was extremely positive and it was agreed that a Code of Conduct dealing with issues related to the management and use of fertilizers, as well as aspects related to the production, trade and quality of fertilizers is extremely necessary and timely. There was agreement that the current document is comprehensive and holistic and clearly sets out the roles and responsibilities for the various stakeholders involved in the fertilizer value chain.    

While many GSP member countries agreed to endorse the Fertilizer Code in its current form and present it to the Committee on Agriculture (COAG) in October 2018, some members felt that the document could be improved and would benefit from further stakeholder engagement and consultation, thus, ensuring the Code of Conduct will be truly relevant and have the maximum effect and buy in from all.

We are therefore holding a second online consultation to gather comments and feedback on the current draft Fertilizer Code of Conduct and use this feedback to fine-tune it. The consultation will also serve to further engage stakeholders and garner their support for the Code.

We invite you to read this zero-draft of the International Code of Conduct for the Use and Management of Fertilizers and provide your feedback and comments by Sunday 15th July, 2018.

To assist us in focusing your feedback, please answer the following survey questions to guide and assist us to understand and incorporate your feedback. 

To assist us in focusing your feedback, please answer the following survey questions on the template provided in the following link and send it back to us using the upload and submit buttons below. If you would like to make comments on the Fertilizer Code of Conduct document itself, please do so using Track Change and return the document using the upload and submit buttons. Alternatively, you can post your comments and feedback in the contribution box below.

(Please download the template here)

Question 
Is an International Code of Conduct for the Use and Management of Fertilizers beneficial and useful? To whom, and why?  
Does this Fertilizer Code of Conduct address all aspects necessary to ensure the responsible use of fertilizers, optimizing benefits while minimizing risks?  
Are there any topics or subject matter missing from this Fertilizer Code of Conduct? If so, what are they?  
Are there redundancies or unnecessary items or subjects within this Code of Conduct? If so, what are they?  
Do you have any other suggestions or comments not covered in the above questions? If so, please elaborate.

We greatly appreciate your invaluable support on this globally important topic of sustainable management of nutrients, and for your collaboration and assistance in producing this Fertilizer Code of Conduct as a tool to assist in such.

Eduardo Mansur, Director Land and Water Division, FAO

Hans Dreyer, Director Plant Production and Protection Division, FAO

Facilitators

Gary Pierzynski, Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils

Robert Edis, Chair of the open-ended working group

Debra Turner, Global Soil Partnership Secretariat, FAO

Ronald Vargas, Global Soil Partnership Secretariat, FAO

Zineb Bazza, Global Soil Partnership Secretariat, FAO