Strategic Approach to International ChemicalsManagement (SAICM)

Regional Institute of Studies on ToxicSubstances (IRET)

This leaflet introduces the background to the Costa Rica SAICMQuick Start Project, the objectives and organisations involved.

The project directly addresses the serious problems caused byhazardous pesticide use and risky practices in Costa Rica.Activities during 2015-2017 will explore aspects of inadequatemanagement of pesticides throughout the lifecycle from import,regulation, to distribution, use and disposal of waste and emptycontainers. The focus is on capacity building of a range of keystakeholders including: decision makers in governmentagencies and in the agricultural sector, farmers cultivating atsmall, medium and large scales and civil society organisations.Safer alternatives based on Integrated Pest Management (IPM)will be explored for selected HHPs prioritised at national level.

Highly Hazardous Pesticides phase out andalternatives in Costa Rica

Pesticide use issues in Costa RicaCosta Rica has one of the highestintensities of pesticide use in the world.Importation of pesticides has increasedmuch more steeply than the areadevoted to agriculture, rising from 8.2kg active ingredients per hectare ofcultivated land in 1977 to 25.8 kg/ha in2006.

Pesticide use is particularly high onimportant export crops, e.g. banana,pineapple, melon, coffee, which generatesignificant foreign exchange and jobs.Banana plantations use around 49kg/ha,pineapple 30kg and coffee 4kg/ha perseason. Much of the production is on largeestates but there are also small andmedium farms involved. Areas cultivatedare increasing rapidly - from2000 to 2009,pineapple cultivation trebled, to reach40,000 ha.

Many of the pesticides in use are highlyhazardous in terms of acute toxicity,chronic health risk and/or environmentalcontamination. The fungicide mancozebforms the highest volume of imports and isused intensively in banana and pineapple

cultivation, sometimes via aerial spraying.Biomonitoring studies have found thattissues of children living close to bananaplantations are contaminated with 2-5times the levels of chlorpyrifos andmancozeb metabolites than children closeto organic farms.

Serious contamination levels of bromacyl,diuron and diazinon have beendocumented in water courses,groundwater and wells. Bromacyl use inpineapple has led to residues in watersources 20 times higher thanEUpermittedlevels for drinking water. Pesticide spraydrift or run-off into watercourses hastriggered numerous mass kills of fish andother aquatic life. Some plantations havebeen associated with overspraying, driftand contamination of neighbouringvillagers, crops and livestock, withincidents of non-compliance with nationallaws on buffer zones and other riskmitigation measures.

Farmworker exposure concerns includehandling of chlorpyrifos-impregnatedcovers for bananas, dermal exposure tofungicides in fruit packing plants andweak

compliance with occupational Health &Safety norms. Smallholder farmersgrowing export and basic food crops facedifferent exposure risks, related toknapsack and motorised spraying withinadequate PPE and poor understandingof acute and chronic health hazards.

National statistics from 2008 revealed anaverage of 100 fatal poisonings per year,with methomyl causing the highestfrequency, followed by paraquat andterbufos. Acute poisonings documentedover 200 acute cases each year.Costa Rica has introduced legislation to tryand put stricter controls on pesticidedistribution and use. For example, in 2008tougher restrictions were imposed onparaquat, following official recognition ofhigh risk of occupational and accidentalhealth effects, notably via dermalexposure inworkers. All aerial spraying forthis herbicide is now banned and paraquatproducts can only be purchased viaprofessional ‘prescription’. Despite theseefforts, acute and chronic ill healthcontinues, linked to inappropriatehandling of HHPs.

PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS

The project is coordinated by theRegional Institute of Studies onToxicSubstances (IRET), based atCosta Rica’s National University(UNA). IRET has over 30 years’experience in research, training andpolicy advocacy in pesticide healthand environmental problems andserves as a WHO CollaboratingCentre on Occupational andEnvironmental Epidemiology andToxicology. IRET staff have detailedknowledge on pesticide risks andimpacts in the Central Americancontext. Its Pesticide Diagnostics &Alternatives team maintains apesticide database and researchessafe and sustainable alternatives inagriculture and forestry. http://www.iret.una.ac.cr/index.php/area-de-diagnostico

Costa Rica’s Ministry ofEnvironment & Energy (MINAE)www.minae.go.cr is the nationalSAICM focal point. The Ministry willplay a key role in capacity buildingand stakeholder collaboration tostrengthen national chemicalsmanagement and implement theBRS Conventions and the FAO/WHOinitiative on Highly HazardousPesticides.

Activities will involve smallholderfarmer organisations, commercialgrower associations and individualestates, farm worker unions andNGOs. Certified private standardsplay an important role in influencingpesticide practices and the projecthas support from the SustainableAgriculture Network (SAN) ofthe Rainforest Alliance http://

san.ag/web/ and from the 4CAssociation, the entry-levelstandard for mainstream coffeeproduction www.4c-coffeeassociation.org/

Pesticide Action Network (PAN)UK www.pan-uk.org will shareinformation from outside Costa Ricaon successful IPM alternatives toHHPs prioritised in the project. PANUK will help build links with theinternational policy forums and withprivate sector players, including UKretailers sourcing produce fromCosta Rica.

The lesson-sharing regionalworkshop in 2017 will inviteparticipants from other CentralAmerican countries (Panama,Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador,Guatemala and Belize).

For more information, contact:Fernando Ramírez Muñoz, ProjectCoordinator, Pesticide Diagnostics &Alternatives team at IRET, NationalUniversity of Costa Rica (UNA). Email:fernando.ramirez.munoz@una.crWebsite: www.iret.una.ac.crStephanie Williamson, collaborator oninternational linkages, Pesticide ActionNetwork UK. Email:stephaniewilliamson@pan-uk.orgWebsite: www.pan-uk.org

Sheila Willis,Head of International Programmes E: Sheila@pan-uk.org

Pesticide Action Network, UKThe Brighthelm Centre, North Road, Brighton,BN1 1YD

www.pan-uk.org September 2016 September 2016

Pesticide Action Network, UKThe Brighthelm Centre, North Road, Brighton,BN1 1YD

www.pan-uk.orgSheila Willis,Head of International Programmes E: Sheila@pan-uk.org

Unsafe mixing practice. Credit:F. Ramírez Muñoz

Project Objectives

1. Identify pesticides and use patterns whichcan be considered Highly Hazardous inthe Costa Rican context, using a life cycleapproach (regulation/import to disposal).

2. Engage government agencies, theagriculture sector and NGOs indevelopment of a joint National HHPAction Plan for risk and use reduction.

3. Raise awareness of the FAO/WHO HHPapproach and of short-term actions toreduce risks, with training of smallholderfarmer organizations.

4. Identify potential alternative pestmanagement options for HHPs prioritizedin the National HHP Action Plan and trialthe most feasible with a network of pilotfarms for IPM, with a preference for non-chemical methods.

5. Review project results, share lessons anddevelop recommendations for follow-upactions and funding proposals formedium-term implementation.

Ecologically-based methods forphasing out priority HHPsThe project will run field trialson phasing out specific HHPsin selected crops and phasingin safer and more sustainablealternatives methods formanaging the pests, diseasesor weeds targeted by thoseHHPs. The priorities mayinclude:

• Paraquat for weed controlin coffee and for destroyingpineapple crop residues(which provide breedinggrounds for the stable flywhich attacks livestock)

• Endosulfan for control ofCoffee Berry Borer, for whichCosta Rica has derogatedphase out by 2017

• Potential priority HHPs such

as the insecticidechlorpyrifos and severalfungicides linked to chronichealth effects.

For endosulfan, PAN UK hascompiled useful lessons fromfarmer experiences in otherCentral American countries onGrowing Coffee withoutEndosulfan, via a recentcollaborative project with FAOand the RotterdamConvention Secretariat. IRETis investigating alternatives toparaquat for destroyingpineapple foliage, usingmicro-organisms to breakdown the foliage.

For risk reduction methods,survey work has identifiedsmallholder needs for safe

disposal of knapsack sprayerwashing and leftover solution.The project will test mini‘biobeds’ using barrels filled withdecomposing plant matterenhanced with microorganisms,to mimic the effect of reedbedsin degrading chemicalcontamination.

Protecting Health and theEnvironment

Sheila Willis,Head of International Programmes E: Sheila@pan-uk.org

Pesticide Action Network, UKThe Brighthelm Centre, North Road, Brighton,BN1 1YD

www.pan-uk.org September 2016

Mixing cyproconazole fungicide with foliar fertiliser,without any personal protection. Credit: F Ramirez