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URCA participates in the PESTIECOTOX collective expert assessment on the impact of plant protection products (PPP) on biodiversity and services

The PESTIECOTOX collective expert assessment was carried out by INRAE​and Ifremer at the request of the ministries responsible for the Environment, Agriculture and Research.

The objective of this expert assessment is to carry out an inventory of scientific knowledge relating to the impacts of PPPs on biodiversity and ecosystem services. A previous collective scientific expert assessment (ESCo) on Pesticides, agriculture and the environment was carried out in 2005. This exercise consists of updating the results, extending them to the entire land-sea continuum and including the uses of PPPs in non-agricultural areas (JEVI).

URCA, through the involvement of the INERIS SEBIO joint research unit, was involved in carrying out this expert assessment, the presentation seminar for which took place on 5 May 2022 in Paris.

The conclusions of this expert assessment confirm that all terrestrial, aquatic and marine environments – particularly coastal ones – are contaminated by plant protection products. Direct and indirect impacts of these substances have also been proven on ecosystems and populations of terrestrial, aquatic and marine organisms. However, contamination tends to decrease for substances that have been banned for several years.

This work also highlights additional research needs to better quantify the impact of these products on the environment. It also underlines the existence of several levers, linked to regulations, product use practices and the structure of agricultural landscapes, which are effective in limiting this contamination and its impacts, while guaranteeing the protection of crops, even though agricultural production systems that do not use plant protection products are still too limited.

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