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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])

A six day regional workshop on the FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit was organized from May 29 to June 2 in Beijing, China. Pesticide registrars from Lao PR (4), Cambodia (4), Philipines (4), Indonesia (1) and China (15) participated in this training workshop, which was jointly organized by the FAO Regional Office for Southeast Asia and ICAMA, the Chinese Institute for Control of Agrochemicals - Ministry of Agriculture. The participants were introduced to the Toolkit through presentations and practical exercises and shared experiences with their colleagues from the different participating countries. ICAMA, the host institute, presented its experiences with Highly Hazardous Pesticides and assessment modelling for occupational and environmental risks. Even though the countries differ greatly in the resources available for- and current approaches to- registration of pesticides, the Toolkit proved to contain elements for each country to improve registration practices at their own resource level.

Pesticide registrars from 10 countries in the Pacific discussed far-reaching regional collaboration to strengthen the registration of pesticides. The meeting was held in Nadi, Fiji, from 8 – 12 May 2017, to review a draft memorandum of understanding among countries and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), for the establishment of a Pacific Pesticide Registration and Management Scheme.The FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit was introduced during the meeting and participants practiced its navigation. Various modules of the Toolkit, such as decision making, registration strategies, assessment methods and information sources, were used to suggest methods that the proposed Regional Pesticide Advisory Committee can apply when conducting scientific evaluation of the pesticides submitted for registration in the Pacific.See the SPC website for more information.

A national workshop on the FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit was organized from 27 to 31 March in Blantyre, Malawi. The training workshop was conducted to strengthen the Pesticide Control Board’s regulatory capacity to ensure sound management of pesticides. The trainees comprised 8 staff members from the Pesticide Control Board (Registration office and inspection team), two members of the PCB Technical Team and the national FAO project coordinator. During the workshop the participants were presented with the contents of the Toolkit and practical exercises that allow them to make use of the Toolkit in their day-to-day work. One of the recommendations of the participants from this workshop was to include into the Toolkit a glossary of frequently used pesticide registration terminologywhich has since been implemented under the Terms and Defintions section on the website. The workshop was funded by the Pesticide Risk Reduction project in Malawi.

FAO organized a workshop on the Pesticide Registration Toolkit, from 7 to 11 February 2017, In Claxton Bay, Trinidad. Twenty-six participants took part in the workshop, coming from 13 Caribbean countries. Participants were either registrars of pesticides, staff of pesticide registration authorities, or otherwise involved in the evaluation and authorization of pesticides. The workshop covered the structure and contents of the FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit and consisted of presentations, discussions, exercises and case studies. Participants familiarized themselves with the various modules of the Toolkit and became comfortable navigating and using it. Pesticide registration staff considered the Toolkit very useful for their daily work. The workshop had provided new insights about options and methods that can be used for the evaluation of a pesticide. The participants also underlined the importance of regional collaboration and information exchange in the Caribbean.

From 7 – 18 November, FAO hosted a training-of-trainers on its Pesticide Registration Toolkit. During the training, a global team of experts in pesticide registration and management 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 to implement FAOs Strategic Objectives, 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 would 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 involving trainers from Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, China, Germany, Mozambique, New Zealand, Saint Lucia, Sweden and Zimbabwe to roll out the Toolkit in various 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])

A national workshop on the FAO Pesticide Registration Toolkit will be organized from 4 to 7 April 2016 in Yangon, in close collaboration with the Plant Protection Division of Myanmar. The workshop will bring together pesticide registration staff from the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, members of the national pesticide registration board and participants from relevant research institutes. The aim of the workshop is to present the contents of the Toolkit and ensure that participants can make use of it during their day-to-work. It is expected that the workshop will contribute to better informed decision making for the authorization of pesticides in Myanmar. This, in turn, will lead to more effective pest management and lower risks for human health and the environment. The workshop is funded under the FAO regional project on Pesticide Risk Reduction in South East Asia, funded by the Government of Sweden.

FAO organized two regional workshops with pesticide registration authorities from countries in South-East Asia and East Africa, in June 2015 in Hanoi and Dar es Salaam. Participants were introduced to the Pesticide Registration Toolkit and tested its content and functionalities. Based on the comments they provided, FAO is improving the Toolkit and making it better respond to the needs of pesticide registration staff in countries with limited resources.