The collaboration between the Swedish Chemicals Agency (Kemikalieinspektionen, KEMI) and FAO dates back to 2010, with three projects implemented so far and a new one on its way. 

KEMI´s funds have been pivotal in supporting FAO’s normative work on pesticide management, particularly the implementation of the International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management (the Code). The Code is a standard setting document that was unanimously adopted by the FAO Member States in 1985, revised and endorsed by the FAO conference in 2013 and the Executing Board of World Health Organization (WHO) in 2014, and it is currently ongoing further improvement. Mr Baogen Gu, team leader of the pest and pesticide management team in FAO explains its purpose “The International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management is a voluntary framework that provides acceptable standards on various aspects of pesticides lifecycle, from initial production to their final disposal. Countries decide independently on these aspects through their national legislations, but the Code helps them check whether these meets international standards of sound management.”

The Code comes with technical guidelines that dig deeper on specific areas or topics of pesticide management.  They are developed by an expert panel, through the FAO\WHO Joint Meeting on Pesticide Management (JMPM), which determines the priorities and ensure technical soundness for their development, review and approval. KEMI’s projects have supported the development of series of guidance for the implementation of the Code. KEMI experts, including Ms. Lilian Tornqvist and Ms. Helena Casabona, have served as FAO panel members in the JMPM making great contributions. 

Ms Casabona has been part of the JMPM since 2021: “The implementation of the Code requires some serious capacity building, especially in those countries where very few people in the government are appointed to deal with pesticides. In the past 14 years we have supported FAO in developing the Pesticide Registration Toolkit to fill the capacity gap with this web-based repository of information and day to day support to assess pesticides prior to national registration. Our goal has always been to speed up the phasing out of highly hazardous pesticides that harm people’s health and the environment”. With KEMI´s support FAO has developed and updated 10 guidance documents and the Code can count on a total of 46 documents covering all stages of the pesticide life cycle. Over 700 government officials from 84 countries have been trained on pesticide registration.  

In response to the increased familiarity with remote learning and online activities following the COVID-19 pandemic, FAO has turned the Toolkit into e-learning courses with KEMI´s support 

• Using the Pesticide Registration Toolkit 
• Pesticide Registration Toolkit 
• Highly Hazardous Pesticides 

KEMI´s own offer of e-courses (Online-courses - Kemikalieinspektionen) provides national officers with additional and complementary resources to make informed decisions.
•    Introduction to the GHS: The course teaches the key steps involved in the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) for the classification and labelling of chemicals.
•    Financing of Pesticide Registration and Control: The course is intended for managers and will guide you through the critical steps of financing a robust pesticide regulation system.

Ivy Saunyama, FAO agricultural officer, has been doing field work with KEMI´s experts, on risk assessment of Highly Hazardous Pesticides. She highlights the advantages of this collaboration: “Working with KEMI has gone way beyond the simple funding of our activities. We have worked back-to-back in Zimbabwe to see how the various tools, the guidance documents, the Code and the Pesticide Registration Toolkit, contributed to real progress towards pesticide management and pesticide risk reduction. Zimbabwean pesticide regulators have been recognized as champions of sound pesticide management in Africa! In May 2024, a team of six pesticide inspectors from the Zambia Environmental Management Agency, accompanied by a technical expert from KEMI, attended a three-day peer-learning exchange meeting in Zimbabwe with eight Zimbabwean counterparts. Together, they shared insights on their pesticide regulatory frameworks, focusing on HHP risk reduction, specifically the status of HHP identification and needs assessments in Zambia and Zimbabwe by sharing lists of identified HHPs and discussing potentially safer, viable and sustainable alternatives.”

KEMI and FAO assisted Botswana, Malawi, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe with HHPs risk assessment and supported the development of regional strategies on HHPs for the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). KEMI´s support has contributed to progresses for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 2 on Zero Hunger, SDG 3 on Good health and Well Being and SDG 6 on Clean Water and Sanitation.

The next project funded by KEMI will help address new global issues on pesticide management, interlinking financial aid with technical support from KEMI´s experts. Great challenges wait ahead in the pursuit of sustainable agriculture: assessing the potential gaps of the Code as it pertains to the call made by the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, proving effective mechanisms to register biopesticides as alternatives to HHPs, and supporting national capacity of pesticide management and the Global Alliance on HHPs under the Global Framework on Chemicals.