@fao rne Group photo during the workshop on the Environmental and Health Standards (EHS) for Desert Locust Control in the Central Region.

Hurghada, Egypt, September 26, 2016: The FAO's Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region (CRC) organised a workshop on the Environmental and Health Standards (EHS) for Desert Locust Control in the Central Region.

Held in Hurghada between 25 and 29 September, the workshop was attended by representatives of CRC member states Eretria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan, as well as FAO, Desert Locust Organization for Eastern Africa (DLCO-EA) and CRC officials.

The workshop addresses measures to mitigate the adverse effects of insecticides on human health and the environment. Risk mitigation measures include: Environmental and health monitoring of control operations; sound management of empty containers and left-over pesticides; the use of appropriate and low risk insecticides and application methods; training and monitoring of control staff; and improvement of insecticide storage and transport.

Participants will discuss measures taken in previous years to address the problems as well progress made in relevant countries. They will agree on steps that countries need to take to minimise or prevent these adverse effects on human health through the proper use and management of insecticides before, during and after a control campaign.

CRC Secretary Mamoon Al Alawi said: “CRC member countries have been active over the past decade in implementing and strengthening measures at the national and regional levels to minimize the negative effects of insecticides on human health, in line with the EHS for desert locust control in the central region.”

“The EHS provides explicit benchmarks which desert locust control operations should comply with to ensure that environmental and human health effects are avoided or kept to an acceptable minimum," he added. "Many of the standards defined in the EHS are already fully or partially met by countries, but some might not have been implemented yet.”

He stressed that “In order to ensure the effective implementation of the EHS, it is important that the standards are firmly incorporated into the legal and institutional frameworks of countries. It is therefore suggested that the EHS are formally validated and adopted.”

The EHS provides a yardstick for countries to assess how well environmental and human health precautions are being put into practice, and to identify what measures still need to be strengthened or initiated.

“Particular attention should be turned to the legal basis of the EHS," Alawi said. "It is imperative that the provisions of the EHS do not violate national legislation and regulations, and that, vice versa, relevant national legal environmental and health requirements are integrated into the EHS. Given that National Locust Control Units (NLCUs) are primarily responsible for locust control operations, it is strongly recommended that NLCUs become directly responsible for the implementation of the EHS,” Alawi said.

Desert locust upsurges and plagues can cause significant and widespread crop losses, which might affect national food security and export of agricultural commodities. Consequently, extensive control operations are mounted whenever a local outbreak occurs, or if an upsurge develops. Applying chemical insecticides is still the principal approach used in desert locust control.