Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a strategy that promotes a safer and more sustainable management of pesticides. IPM strategies are evolving because of new emerging pests and climate change. IPM is now high on the agendas in many regions of the world, particularly in the European Union as part of the Sustainable Use Directive.

The OECD is currently carrying out a number of activities on IPM as part of its follow-up work to the 2nd OECD Workshop on IPM in 2011. Under the supervision of the Expert Group on IPM, the OECD is active in: 

• Development of an international platform about IPM, the IPM Hub;
• Promoting and developing policies in favour of IPM adoption;
• Developing indicators of IPM adoption and impacts; and
• Facilitating awareness raising about IPM among the public and food chain operators.

2nd OECD Workshop on IPM (2011)

 

In October 2011, an OECD workshop reinforced the critical role of IPM approaches for sustainable use of pesticides. That workshop, titled “OECD Workshop on IPM - Strategies for the adoption and implementation of IPM in agriculture contributing to the sustainable use of pesticides and to pesticide risk reduction”, was held in Berlin, Germany, on 16 19 October 2011. The participants, almost 100 from 20 countries, examined the progress of implementation and adoption of IPM since the first OECD workshop  on IPM in 1998, and made recommendations to identified stakeholders to facilitate further progress which would lead to greater pesticide risk reduction in agriculture. The workshop was organised in order to learn about the current and diverse situations of IPM implementation in OECD and enhanced engagement countries and to discuss and recommend how to further advance IPM uptake. In particular, it addressed IPM various aspects through four main issues:

• Technology and Information
• Economics and Market Access
• Policies and Strategies
• Measurements and Impact

The workshop urged the OECD to encourage all stakeholders, including governments, to adopt and implement IPM. In particular, the Pesticides Programme will help them share information and develop/improve IPM policies, tools, measures and communication activities.

The report of the 2011 OECD Workshop on IPM is available from here (main report, PPTs). Posters prepared for the workshop can be viewed here.

1st OECD Workshop on IPM (1998)

Back is1998, the Risk Reduction Project organised a first workshop in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, to explore how integrated pest management (IPM) could help reduce the risks associated with pesticide use in agriculture.  The workshop responded to a recommendation from the Uppsala workshop to "initiate activities to facilitate information exchange between countries on IPM and other alternatives".  It also initiated discussions about "systems to measure progress in risk reduction", whose development was recommended by the Uppsala workshop.

The Report of the OECD/FAO Workshop on Integrated Pest Management and Pesticide Risk Reduction (Neuchatel, 1998) affirms that IPM can contribute to pesticide risk reduction and identifies actions that governments, farmers, retailers, OECD and FAO could take to promote IPM.  The report also compiles the official definitions of IPM used by the government agencies and organisations represented at the workshop.

Most of the workshop recommendations target actions to be taken at the national and local level.  However, the OECD Working Group on Pesticides has followed up in two areas:  harmonising data requirements for biological pesticides, and organising a workshop on the economics of pesticide risk reduction.

In response to the Neuchâtel Workshop's recommendation to "promote registration of IPM compatible products," a series of projects has been undertaken to harmonise data requirements for biological pesticides.