and Integrated Pest Management - part - usaid

I S11CID[E RSI I)UES INTIl E NVIRONMENTr: AN NGO 1"ISPECI1VI 397
notified about the impending import and the reason the pesticide is restricted in
the country of origin and (2)give positive consent to the pesticide's importation.
PIC is based on the principle that every country has the right to determine
whether or not a hazaidous product should cross it.s border;. As summed tip in a
1977 resolution of the UNEP governing council, governments should "take
steps to ensure that potentially harmful Chemicals, in whatevcr form or
commodity, which are unacceptable for domestic purposes in the exporting
country, are not permitted to be exported without the knowledge and consent of
appropriate authorities in the importing country".
MONITORING OF PESTICIDE RESIDUES The regular and systematic
monitoring of soii, air, and water for pesticide residues is essential. However,
monitoring rcquires substantial and sustained funding, which is normally
provided through public funding. Governments should investigate ways in
which pesticide registrants can share the costs of monitoring and of prevention
and treatment measures. It seems oily fair that those who make the poisons
should share some of the financial responsibiiity for controlling and preventing
their ill-effects.
CONCLUSION
Inconclusion, I would like to relate this very famous story:
"You go in and save a drowning baby; and then there is another drowning baby,
and you go in and save the second drowning baby, and then a third, a fourth, a
fifth. You are so bu.sy sa\ lag drowning babies that you have no time to look tLip
from the river to see that there is a man there throwing babies into the river".
In many issues, one has to look at the source of the problem. Here,
basically, in the words of American author and ecologist Barry Commoner, "We
have produced a chemical system antagonistic to life which is essentially
overwhelming it". Only by curbing the spread of agrochemicals alound the
world can the problems of pesticide misuse and overuse be overcome. To do that
we need a new alertness, increased kno~k ledge, a concerted effort of all concerned
parties, and most of all, the public and political will to act locally aomd globally.
One concerned party, the Pesticide Action Network, has already begun to create
this global conscience and will to action, to move away from pest control
techniques that are inherently hazardous and wasteful towards those that are
humanized and ecologically sound.
LITERATURE CITED
Abraham, M. 1987. Pesticide control and raonitoring in the Third World.
Integration of environment into development: institutional and legislative
aspects. Proceedings of the Expert Group Meeting, Tokyo. 5-11 June, 1984.
ESCAP, Bangkok.