Pesquisar

Pesticides and their use are regulated at EU level. Directive 2009/128/EC ('SUD') of the European Parliament and the Council establishes a framework to achieve sustainable use of pesticides that are plant protection products, by reducing the risks and impact of pesticide use on human health and the environment, and promoting the use of integrated pest management and of alternative approaches or techniques such as non-chemical alternatives to pesticides. A recent ex-post evaluation by the European ...

Existing, new and emerging crop protection practices, including mechanical techniques, precision agriculture, biocontrol, plant breeding, induced crop resistance, application of ecological principles to increase biodiversity and use of 'green' plant protection products, could help to reduce the use of conventional plant protection products and were described in an earlier STOA study. This new study provides cost estimates for various alternative crop protection practice options in the EU

Following a series of trilogue meetings, in December 2015 the European Parliament and the Council of the EU finalised a compromise text on a new EU plant health regulation. Its overall objective is to address increased risks for the plant health sector posed by new pests and diseases having emerged as a result of globalisation and climate change, and by plants imported from third countries.

Following an evaluation of the European Union's plant health regime, on 6 May 2013 the European Commission proposed a new regulation on protective measures against plant pests. These include regulating pests on the basis of established criteria for risk assessment and prioritising those pests with the most serious consequences. More focus is being placed on high-risk trade coming from third countries. The proposal provides for better surveillance and the early eradication of outbreaks of new pests ...

A plant pathogen called Xylella fastidiosa has already devastated close to 30 000 hectares of olive groves in the Italian region of Apulia, with major economic and social consequences for the olive production sector. Following notification of the Xylella outbreak by the Italian authorities in October 2013, the EU has adopted a series of emergency measures, which are now to be further tightened by stringent prevention and eradication actions aimed at curbing the epidemic.

Some non-native animals, plants and micro-organisms can pose a serious threat to European flora and fauna, disrupt fragile ecosystems and also transmit diseases to people, decimate crops and damage infrastructure. Environmentalists and politicians have called for action to address this ecological, economic and social threat. In September 2013, the European Commission proposed a harmonised approach. Under the proposal there would be a ban on the import, sale, growing, use or release of selected species ...