Billions of bees, butterflies, and other insects die each year and the consequences could soon be catastrophic for crops and fragile ecosystems around the world. Agricultural pesticides are among the main causes. The European Union is considering an ambitious proposal to radically reduce the use of pesticides by 2030, which could pave the way for their complete elimination in Europe in 15 years. But first, we must prevent the powerful chemical producer’s lobby from defeating the plan.
That’s why we at the Public Center for the Environment and Sustainable Development are joining an incredible coalition of environmental groups, farmers, beekeepers and scientists to garner one million citizens votes – the number needed to ensure the EU institutions respond at our requests.
Phase-out of the use of synthetic pesticides – By 2030, the use of synthetic pesticides in EU agriculture must be reduced by 80%. By 2035, agriculture across the EU will have to operate without synthetic pesticides.
Biodiversity restoration measures – Species habitats should be restored and agricultural areas should be an essential part of restoring biological diversity.
Support for farmers – Farmers must be supported in the necessary transition to the agri-environment. Promote small, diverse and sustainable farms, expand organic farming and support research in pesticide-free and GMO-free agriculture.
You can do this by signing the petition on the Avaaz global web movement platform.
Avaaz – which means “voice” in several European, Middle Eastern and Asian languages – was launched in 2007 with a simple democratic mission: to organize citizens of all nations to bridge the gap between the world we have and the world that most of the people wherever they would like.
Avaaz is a platform for creating petitions, which aims to encourage citizens of different countries to overcome their differences and, as an active civil society, to take a stand on important issues. This has worked previously: Citizens have used Avaaz to help put important issues from glyphosate to GMOs on the agenda of the European Commission and Parliament. Let’s do it again and make this the biggest public request ever to save bees, butterflies and farmers from deadly pesticides! You can sign the petition here.
Improving public knowledge about the role of Civil Society Organizations
The project “Improving public knowledge about the role of Civil Society Organizations” shall be implemented with the financial support of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway under the EEA Financial Mechanism. The main goal of the project is to improve citizens’ awareness of the role of non-governmental organizations in society. This material is established with the financial support of the Active Citizens Fund of Bulgaria under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area. The whole responsibility for the content of the document is held by the Public Environmental Center for Sustainable Development and under no circumstances can this material be considered to reflect the official opinion of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Active Citizens Fund of Bulgaria.