Huw Irranca-Davies MS, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs
On Friday the 21 March, we published a new action plan to promote the sustainable use of pesticides. This will minimise the risks and impacts to human health and the environment and ensuring pests and pesticide resistance are managed effectively.
The UK Pesticides National Action Plan 2025: Working for a more sustainable future, has been agreed by all four UK governments and sets out the actions to minimise the risks and impacts of pesticides over the next five years.
It includes the UK’s first domestic reduction target for pesticides. This is based on reducing potential environmental harm, rather than on volume of pesticide applied, thereby ensuring a balanced and impactful approach.
The Plan sets out clear and practical steps on how we will support our land managers to manage pests and pesticide resistance effectively while minimising impacts on people and the environment.
It also includes a broad range of actions to increase the uptake of integrated pest management approaches such as the use of biological, physical and other non-chemical measures to control pests as part of an integrated approach, as well as plans to deliver improved risk-based enforcement.
The plan reflects our commitment to reducing pesticide use through promoting and supporting behavioural change. All four governments will continue working together on a range of activities to help achieve the ambitious objectives and target in the plan. We will also implement measures directly in Wales, for instance through our Sustainable Faming Scheme and by working with the amenity sector and home gardeners.
This is a positive further step towards this Welsh Government’s aim of halting and reversing the decline in biodiversity and tackling the nature crisis.