19 April 2011: The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Andean Community (CAN) have launched a two-year project to strengthen technical and institutional capacities for registration and post-registration monitoring and control of pesticides used in agriculture in the four CAN countries, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

The FAO/CAN project will aid the four countries on three fronts: strengthening the existing Andean Norm for the Registration and Control of Chemical Pesticides for Agricultural Use, adopted in 1998; building technical and institutional capacity for pesticide registration and control in the four countries, including training on, and providing up-to-date tools for, assessing human toxicological and environmental risks posed by pesticides; and providing institutional support at the subregional level by creating a Andean system for post-registration monitoring and control, a system of analytical labortories and an Andean registry for biological pesticides.

Among other things, the project will update the Andean Technical Manual for the Registration and Control of Pesticides, adopted in 2002, and develop new or updated CAN legislation, administrative tools and operational plans for pesticide registration and control. [CAN Press Release (in Spanish)] [FAO Press Release (in Spanish)]