2011, November: Workshop on Environmental Hazard and Risk Assessment and Definition of Protection Goals for the Environment
A training workshop was held at Debre Zeyit in Ethiopia from 14-18 November 2011 in order to start the development of a scientific evaluation system for environmental risks to be used at the registration stage in Ethiopia.
The objectives of the workshop were twofold:
- to provide training on international criteria for environmental hazards and risks as well as on risk assessment methods and models
- to define and prioritize the protection goals for the environment, in correspondence with existing national legal requirements and involving the responsible political level of Ethiopia.
Representatives of the Animal and Plant Health Regulatory Directorate (APHRD), Ethiopian Institutes of Agricultural Research (EIAR), the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Ethiopian Conformity Assessment Enterprise (ECAE), the Institute of Biodiversity Conservation (IBC), the Addis Ababa University, PAN-Ethiopia and the two Dutch experts on environmental fate and effects exchanged much relevant information and had vivid discussions during a busy, daily programme.
Main results of the workshop were:
- to include a risk assessment approach in the forthcoming Regulation (i.e. risks are to be evaluated in “realistic worst case” situations)
- to use more than one scenario zone to allow for flexibility in the registration procedure and account for the diversity in agro-environmental conditions in the country
- to protect surface water as source of drinking water for man and livestock as a first priority
- to protect soil, the terrestrial ecosystem (bees, birds, plants), groundwater and the aquatic ecosystem as well.
Five conceptual models were formulated for the priority protection goal surface water in an interactive way. In the coming months these will be further elaborated for the different scenario zones with the aid of GIS information on the agro-ecological zones of Ethiopia, precipitation, soils, elevation and land use. Their vulnerability will be assessed, models will be selected and the scenario definitions will be refined. The ultimate aim is to come up with a number of exposure scenarios, characterising environmentally vulnerable situations, which will be used in the environmental risk assessment of the national pesticide registration procedure.
Presentations:
