The world needs a comprehensive and binding treaty to phase out the use of highly dangerous pesticides and to promote agroecology, which replaces chemicals with biology, as the sustainable method of food production, two UN experts recommended in a report to the UN Human Rights Council. “The assertion promoted by the agrochemical industry that pesticides are necessary to achieve food security is not only inaccurate but dangerously misleading,” says the report.
“In principle, there is adequate food to feed the world; inequitable production and distribution systems present major blockages that prevent those in need from accessing it,” says the report in promoting agroecology as an alternative. “Despite their widespread use, chemical pesticides have not achieved reduction in crop losses in the last 40 years. This has been attributed to their indiscriminate and non-selective use, killing not only pests but also their natural enemies and pollinators.”
By contrast, agroecology aims to protect crops from damage by enhancing biodiversity and encouraging the presences of natural enemies of pests and by using crop rotations and cover crops to suppress weeds and increase organic content of the soil. “If properly managed, biodiversity and efficient use of resources can enable smallholder farms to be more productive per hectare than large industrial farms,” says the report by Hilal Elver and Baskut Tuncak. They pointed to the risk of cancer from pesticide exposure and said neonicotinoids were worrying because of accusations they are involved in a decline in bee populations.
The British trade group Crop Protection Association said the report’s argument against pesticides “doesn’t stand up to scrutiny,” reported the Guardian. It quoted the group as saying, “Pesticides play a key role in ensuring we have access to a healthy, safe, affordable and reliable food supply” and without them, weeds, insects and plant diseases could claim a majority of the world’s harvests.