Monday, 18 September 2017
Consultation: Revised FSC Pesticides Policy
September 18, 2017
All stakeholders are invited to participate in an online consultation for a revised pesticides policy (Draft 1-0) until October 29, 2017.
A working group was established in 2015 to revise the FSC Pesticides Policy, with an objective to “identify the best feasible approach to reduce the use of chemical pesticides in FSC-certified forests and to prevent, minimize, and mitigate the related environmental and social impacts.”
A first draft of the revised policy is now open for consultation.
The main revisions in this draft include:
- A shift to a new approach that integrates both hazard and risk.
- Prohibition or restriction of highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) is based on a prioritization of hazard evaluation criteria and the risk they pose to humans and environment.
- Based on this prioritization, the list of HHPs has been divided into three lists, prohibited HHPs, highly restricted HHPs, and restricted HHPs.
- Prohibited HHPs cannot be used (except by government mandate or in certain emergency situations), no derogations will be permitted, and the consequences for inappropriate use are strengthened.
- The use of highly restricted and restricted HHPs will be adapted to the regional or national context by Standard Development Groups and included in the National Forest Stewardship Standard.
- The role of the certification bodies is strengthened.
- Clarification of terms and the scope of the policy.
Stakeholders can provide feedback until October 29, 2017 by completing the online survey available at the FSC Consultation Platform. Please note that you need to register or log in before you can access the consultation.
FSC International is hosting a webinar to support and encourage stakeholder participation in the public consultation. The webinar for North American audiences will be held on Thursday, September 28 at 12pm Eastern/9am Pacific time. Three other webinars will be held for other regions, including one in Spanish on September 29. Complete the registration form to register for the webinar.
If you are not able to participate in the webinars, they will be recorded and posted on the FSC Pesticides Policy website. In order to prepare for the webinar presentation, FSC invites you to send any questions you have to Maria Melero in advance.
If you are attending the FSC General Assembly in October, we also encourage you to participate in the side event about the revision of the Pesticides Policy.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Maria Melero (FSC International Policy and Standards Unit) or the pesticides policy working group at pesticides.policy@fsc.org.