by Mr. K. Grip

Summary

Agriculture is the main-stay of the economies in the Wider Caribbean Region which produces approximately 60% of the world's coffee, 40% of the bananas, 25% of the beans, 20% of the cocoa and significant quantities of sugar, corn, cotton, potato, rice and wheat. The rearing of livestock is also important in Central America and in the process of meeting the growing demand for food, large quantities of agro-chemicals are being used to combat pests.

Three distinct farming systems exist in the Southwestern Caribbean Sea, including the adjacent countries of Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua:

• The export-oriented plantation system, characterised mainly by monoculture on large estates;

• The small farmer agricultural system, often subsistence-based and developed on the more marginal agricultural lands; and

• Migratory, shifting agriculture.

The first of these, the large-scale plantation, is the dominant system in the Caribbean coastal areas of Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica, and the main source of foreign exchange earnings. These large, private estates or plantations generally occupy the most fertile land and produce monoculture crops. Banana cultivation is the most important crop, although sugarcane, rice, vegetables, cotton, flowers, coffee, corn and fruits are also of importance.

The most commonly used pesticides are different and varied products such as: organophosphates, carbamates, organochlorates and piretroids which have been documented as being influential in the degradation of estuaries, rivers, coastal lagoons, and ecosystems such as mangroves, coral reefs, etc.

In Central America, there is a tendency to increase the use of pesticides, especially by the small and medium agricultural producers. This tendency makes it more difficult to successfully introduce education campaigns aimed at improving the management and control of the use of pesticides, thereby reducing the risk of exposure (Jenkins, 1995).

Governments, environmental and health authorities, NGO´s, scientific institutions, and local communities are concerned about the impact from these pollutants, not only in human beings, but also in freshwater and marine resources. The significance of these impacts is not well known, but it is common knowledge that they exist. Public health experts and eco-toxicologists know that intensive and excessive use of pesticides can cause disease carriers to become resistant and they may become harmful to humans and wildlife. Through agricultural run off some of these substances are transported through watercourses to lakes and coastal waters, where they accumulate in e.g. fish tissue and can reach concentration levels that present risks to consumers. There is an important amount of information on the levels of pesticides in sediments and marine organisms along the coast of the Mexican Gulf revealing the transboundary/regional character of the marine environmental problems related to the use of pesticides. Concerning similar information from the Caribbean Sea basin very limited amount of data is available. In all four countries the responsible authorities are committed to improving the management and control of the use of pesticides in the agricultural sector (in co-operation with the private sector) in order to decrease the negative socio-environmental impacts of agricultural activities.

The main objective of this PDF proposal is to assist the countries in developing National Programmes/Action Plans for improved management and control of the use of pesticides in the agricultural sector and thereby reduce the use and reliance of pesticides in agricultural activities. By assisting the Governments in the implementation of these National Programmes/Action Plans the project will demonstrate that the environmental impacts in shared coastal and marine waters and their resources will be reduced, as well as the further transportation of these substances to other parts of the Wider Caribbean Region.