Belgium still allows the use of pesticides banned by the EU, write Hendrik Schoukens and Dries Verhaeghe.
Pesticides are used to combat unwanted organisms. The term pesticide is a collective term for plant protection products and biocides. Plant protection products are mainly used in agriculture, but also in gardens. Think of herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides. The active substance glyphosate is a much-discussed weed killer.
The increasing use of pesticides over the past century has not been without consequences. Recently, it was revealed that in our country, 34 percent of fruit is contaminated with pesticides from the most harmful category. We are the frontrunner in Europe. A study in 2017 on the decline of insects in protected areas in Western Europe revealed a dramatic decline in insect populations between 1989 and 2016.
In a contribution to the opinion (DS 29 December 2021) Hans Van Dyck pointed to the main causes: nitrogen and pesticides. He referred to a German study on the exposure of insects to pesticides. Flying insects in 21 nature reserves carried residues of 47 different pesticides on their bodies. The greater the share of intensive agriculture within a two-kilometre radius of the reserve, the more residues were found on the insects.
Fishing for bones in court
For a long time, legislation regarding pesticide use was a prime example of opaque regulation. The main approvals for harmful substances were made at the European level. For instance, the European Commission allowed glyphosate in December 2017 for a limited period of five years, rather than the usual ten-year period. However, bizarrely enough, those decisions could not be challenged in court. Despite desperate attempts to persuade the European Court of Justice to think differently, environmental organisations repeatedly hit a brick wall when contesting new approvals. European judges have refused for thirty years to grant environmental organisations access to the courts. This has repercussions in such a lobby-sensitive area as pesticide policy, which has become almost immune to judicial oversight.
Yet there is hope. Last year, a European law came into effect that gives environmental organisations some leverage to challenge new approvals for pesticides. There is also some movement at the national level. Since 6 October 2018, the use and sale of glyphosate for non-professional users has been banned in our country. However, the significant gains can be found in professional use. Last year, two groundbreaking rulings on pesticide use were issued in the Netherlands and France. They were based on European environmental and nature legislation, which can serve as an important policy lever here, just like in the nitrogen dossier,.
In France, the Council of State condemned the government at the end of 2021 based on the Directive on Sustainable Pesticide Use. This directive stipulates that pesticide use in water abstraction and Natura 2000 areas must be prohibited or minimised. The directive had been transposed into French law, but the pesticide ban was not implemented in practice. It cannot be done, ruled the judge. The French government was given six months to comply with all obligations.
In June 2021, the Court of North Netherlands ruled on lily cultivation near the Natura 2000 area Holtingerveld in Drenthe. The lily is a symbol of purity, but the lily grower must spray a lot of pesticides to protect his pure bulb crop. The judge decided that the use of pesticides had an impact on the nearby European protected nature area.
A bouquet for Demir
Flanders also had to transpose that directive. This was done in the Decree and Decision on Sustainable Pesticide Use. Although the Flemish legislator instructed in the decree to prohibit or minimise the use of pesticides in water abstraction and Natura 2000 areas, the government failed to do so.
The Flemish government is therefore violating its own regulations and the European ones. Perhaps an environmental organisation is itching to enforce this in court, armed with the French ruling. Furthermore, Flanders does not provide for a licensing requirement for crops that involve pesticide use. Based on the Dutch ruling, a buffer zone of at least two kilometres around the Natura 2000 areas is a must. Here too, the Flemish government has homework to do.
Natura 2000 areas cover 12.3 percent of the Flemish territory. If we add the water extraction areas and then establish a buffer zone, about 15 percent of Flanders will be pesticide-free. A quick win for Minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA). She made a good start at the end of May with her Bee Plan, but strict legislation will also translate her ambitions into practice. We would gladly reward an adjusted Decision on Sustainable Pesticide Use with a bouquet. Without lilies, of course.