Additional Metric Notes

i

More details or context about the metric not captured above.

Rationale

• Reducing pesticide risk is key to maintaining ecosystem services on-farm and minimizing broader environmental impacts, in alignment with GBF Target 7. A relatively simple, hazard-based approach is widely used and easy to understand via public databases, though it currently lacks some key elements of total risk—such as fate and exposure.
• The ecological component considers risks to both terrestrial and aquatic fauna. The field-use rating combines a pesticide’s EIQ (a measure of overall ecological risk) with the application rate of the active ingredient per hectare. Disaggregated reporting of EIQ and use rate helps determine whether farms are shifting toward less risky pesticides and reducing application rates. Relying solely on aggregated EIQ field-use ratings can mask lower-rate use of more hazardous pesticides.
• A possible alternative is the UseTox model, including PestLCI, which provides a risk-based score based on the amount of pesticides used, combined with ecotoxicity estimates (focused on aquatic ecotoxicity), exposure risks, and fate. This model is likely to be further developed to include additional components of ecotoxicity, such as soil and air pollution, and risks to farm workers and end consumers.

Additional/complementary metrics

• Pesticides used & application rates (kg/ha), overall EIQ score
• Pesticides used by toxicity hazard level