On 21st March, the UK Government released its long-awaited Pesticides National Action Plan (NAP), which provides a strategy for managing pesticide use and reducing the associated environmental and health risks across the four nations of the UK.
Under the obligations set out in the Plant Protection Products (Sustainable Use) Regulations 2012, which implemented the EU Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive 2009, the UK’s NAP for pesticides was due to be reviewed and updated in 2018. However, the NAP’s release was hindered by negotiations around EU Exit, the resulting necessary updates to the UK’s regulatory infrastructure, and weak existing regulatory enforcement mechanisms. The public consultation on the NAP’s development only began in late 2020, as pressure from campaigners grew over the increasing environmental and public health concerns related to pesticide use.
The new NAP has a headline target of cutting the pesticide usage on UK farms by 10% by 2030, measured using a new Pesticide Load Indicator (PLI) which tracks 20 different metrics, including both the environmental fate and ecotoxicity of the products. It seeks to bring about this change through a focus on Integrated Pest Management, which uses non-chemical means such as crop rotation, encouragement of natural predators, and cultivation of pest-resistant crop varieties to reduce the risk of pests, as well as a focus on supporting the development of biopesticides and other alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides. The NAP also proposes penalties for farmers engaging in irresponsible use of pesticides.
IEEP UK’s research has already unveiled divergence between UK and EU pesticides policy since EU Exit, with the UK failing to keep pace with the EU in this area. While there have been improvements– notably the rejection of the continuing emergency use of neonicotinoids – the NAP appears to represent continuing divergence from EU pesticides policy, given that its 10% target is far lower than the EU’s respective goal under its Farm to Fork strategy, which is a 50% reduction. It is, however, worth noting that neither target is legally binding, after the failure of the EU Regulation on the Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products to garner enough support in the European Parliament after its proposal by the European Commission in July 2022.
While some organisations have welcomed the introduction of the UK’s first pesticide reduction target, other campaigners have rightly noted the NAP’s key limitation – that it applies only to arable farms, and not to urban areas. This is a potential further divergence from the EU, where the 50% target applies to pesticide use in all areas.
Ed Worsdell, Research Officer at IEEP UK commented: “The publication of this long-awaited National Action Plan is a welcome step towards reducing the usage of environmentally harmful pesticides across UK agriculture. However, its contents represent potential divergence from EU policy, as its headline target of a 10% reduction in pesticide usage by 2030 is considerably lower than the 50% target set out in the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy. Additionally, the UK’s target is limited to pesticide usage on arable farms, and as such is less ambitious than the EU’s target which applies to all areas – although crucially neither target is legally binding. It is worth noting, however, that as pesticides standards fall within the potential SPS/veterinary agreement that Labour is keen to secure with the EU, this may have the outcome of the UK aligning with EU pesticide standards.“
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