Today (Tuesday 27th February) DEFRA launched a consultation entitled 'Health and Harmony - The future of farming, food and the environment in a green Brexit'. The government has labelled the ten-week consultation period a once-in-a-generation opportunity for farmers, landowners and food producers to shape the future of English farming and the environment. [...]
In January 2018, the UK government launched A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment (hereafter referred to as ‘the Plan’). The Plan lays out a range of goals and policies designed to ‘help the natural world regain and retain health’ and restates the government’s commitment [...]
by Colin Toogood, Campaigns Manager at Bhopal Medical Appeal Over the past few years, plans have been afoot for the world’s largest chemical companies to merge into giant, new mega-corporations. Among the markets they seek to control, through these manoeuvres, is the supply of food where sterile crops grown in [...]
11th January 2018 PAN UK welcomes the government's 25 Year Environment Plan and in particular the commitment to support farmers working hard to protect the environment. However, in terms of pesticides, the plan launched today is unfortunately light on detail and includes no new, concrete commitments. While PAN UK welcomes [...]
by Josie Cohen, Head of Policy and Campaigns (January 2018) In November 2017, EU member States narrowly voted for a five-year reauthorisation of glyphosate, the world’s most widely used weedkiller. While this is far from the fifteen-year license the agrochemical industry was pushing for, the result was a major disappointment [...]
Project success as 200 Ethiopian farmers become the first to produce certified organic cotton in the country Since 2013, with financial support from TRAID and in collaboration with PAN-Ethiopia, our project in southern Ethiopia has provided training for over 2000 smallholder cotton farmers. Training in our Farmer Field Schools demonstrates [...]
In December 2013, the European Commission restricted the use of three highly bee-toxic neonicotinoid insecticides, namely imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam. On the 4th anniversary of the partial ban on these substances, new scientific knowledge confirms that these restrictions do not go far enough. Therefore, more than 80 EU NGOs are gathering [...]
Update - 27th November - Glyphosate license renewed for a further five years PAN UK is disappointed to report that the controversial weed killer, glyphosate, has been given approval for use in the EU for a further five years. What is even more disappointing is that the new approval comes [...]
A review of pesticide use in global cotton production - 10th October 2017 (PLEASE FIND OUR REVISED ISSUE FOR JUNE 2018 HERE) A new report published today by PAN UK, with support from the C&A Foundation, investigates the current rate of pesticide use in cotton, and examines its trends [...]
A report by PAN UK, Solidaridad and WWF Leading brands improve performance on sustainable cotton but many still fall short Used in hundreds of everyday items, cotton is a vital cash crop for around 100 million households in 80 countries. However, conventional production of cotton is characterised by environmental, [...]
by Stephanie Williamson, Staff Scientist, PAN UK (26th September 2017) I was delighted to take part in a recent conference organised by the UK-India Agricultural Ecology Initiative and hosted by the British Ecological Society at its HQ in London. The conference brought together a range of mainly British and Indian [...]
by Sam Claydon, Communications Officer, PAN UK (19th September 2017) PAN UK is working with partners and colleagues in Ethiopia to teach smallholder cotton farmers how to manage their fields using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods in order to move away from an over-reliance on pesticides. In a lucky turn [...]
This new booklet demonstrates that the phasing out of highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) is possible. Replacing these pesticides with safer and sustainable alternatives can be done, technically and economically. Governments and supply chain actors can help put alternatives into practice. We use case studies to describe alternative methods for managing [...]
by Josie Cohen, Head of Policy & Campaigns (18th July 2017) The movement to end the use of pesticides in the UK’s towns and cities enjoyed its first foray into Scotland a few weeks ago. Me and two PAN UK colleagues headed north of the border for a couple of [...]
by Stephanie Williamson, Staff Scientist, PAN UK I’ve recently returned from an exciting ten days in Costa Rica, working with our partners at the Regional Institute for Research on Toxic Substances (IRET) at the National University. The aim of my visit was to share findings from our project on Phasing [...]
Since 2013 we have been working to support cotton farmers in Southern Ethiopia to adopt safer and more sustainable methods of growing pesticide-free cotton. We now have 2000 smallholder farmers achieving average yields over 100% higher than before. An organic cotton producers’ cooperative is selling Grade A organic cotton [...]
by Professor Dave Goulson, Sussex University Take a walk around your local garden centre and you will see a mouth-watering range of gorgeous plants on display. You might note that some are specifically labelled as pollinator or bee-friendly, with a picture of a cartoon bumblebee on the label. The Royal [...]
by Dr Meriel Watts, Senior Science Advisor of PAN Asia Pacific (PANAP) PAN UK recently attended the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions Conferences of Parties (Triple COPs), held in Geneva in May 2017. These conventions are international initiatives attempting to establish basic regulatory measures for pesticides at the global [...]
Using the food spray method to enhance biological control in cotton. PAN UK began working with Integrated Pest Management expert, Robert Mensah, ten years ago to develop a food spray, using cheap and locally available materials, to enhance populations of beneficial insects in smallholder cotton fields in Africa. Find out [...]
On Tuesday 28th March 2017, Sheila Willis, PAN UK's Head of International Programmes, travelled with a group from Obepab to the small village of Aliwou in central Benin. The temperature was around 40 C and it had not rained for weeks. Villagers gathered to meet them and although they were already [...]
