An ecosystem services approach to pesticide risk assessment and risk management of non-target terrestrial plants: recommendations from a SETAC Europe workshop

The registration of plant protection products (PPPs) in the EU is under Regulation 1107/2009, which recommends a tiered approach to assessing the risk to non-target terrestrial plants (NTTPs). However, little information is provided on how to perform and implement higher tier studies or how to use them to refine the risk assessments. Therefore, a stakeholder workshop was organized to consolidate current knowledge and expertise to aid the further development of testing and assessment procedures for NTTPs. This brief communication highlights the agreed recommendations of the workshop, which relate to the three main themes, i.e. specific protection goals, risk assessment and mitigation. The participants of the workshop adopted the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) approach of using an ecosystem services framework for identifying specific protection goals. First, delivery and protection of ecosystem services were discussed for in-crop, in-field and off-crop, and off-field areas. Second, lower and higher tier risk assessment methods, including modelling approaches, were evaluated. Third, options for risk mitigation of spray drift and run-off were discussed and evaluated. Several important knowledge gaps were identified, and specific data collation and literature-based tasks were actioned to begin to address them. A full workshop report is planned for the fall of 2014.