Pesticides: NGOs between “disappointment” and misunderstanding in the face of the abandonment of Nodu announced by Attalus

‘Sleight of hand’ that ‘goes against history’: Environmental NGOs criticized the abandonment of France’s Nodu metric to measure pesticide use on Wednesday, showing “frustration” and “misunderstanding” in the face of “contradictory” government statements.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced on Wednesday that France is abandoning Nodu, a metric previously used to measure reductions in pesticide use and which is strongly disputed by most of the agricultural union FNSEA and the pesticide industry.

Now the European indicator HRI-1 (“harmonized risk indicator”) will serve as a standard. The government believes that it takes more into account the concept of health risks associated with pesticides, rather than just the quantities used, and above all it will allow European comparisons.

However, NGOs believe that this indicator does not sufficiently differentiate pesticides according to their hazard levels, since very different products fall into the same category.

Gabriel Attal, however, confirmed that he does not want to “give up on the ambition to reduce pesticide use by 50% by 2030.”

“It will be difficult to realize the ambition of reducing pesticide use by 50% if we remove the only tool that allows us to measure its use,” Sandrine Bellier of the Association for Humanity and Biodiversity lamented to AFP.

“Questioning Nodu implicitly questions the Ecophyto plan and is a rejection of French ambitions that are more protective of the health of citizens and farmers,” she said.

“Contrary to recommendations”

“This decision is clearly contrary to history,” lamented Thomas Uthayakumar, director of advocacy at the Foundation for Nature and Humanity (FNH, formerly the Nicolas Hulot Foundation). “This is clearly against all recommendations. Replacing the thermometer is not a solution to the problem,” he added.

According to his calculations and those of the futures association Générations, the adoption of the new indicator completely distorts the data. “With HRI-1 we see a reduction in pesticides of almost 33%, and with Nodu we see an increase of 3%, they are not the same thing at all! ” explains Thomas Uthayakumar.

For future generations, we are witnessing a “coup” by the government to “introduce a completely misleading indicator that will create the impression of an artificial reduction” in pesticide use.

This is a “total abandonment” of the Ecophyto plan and “a real sleight of hand that will put an end to any momentum in terms of change in agroecological production systems,” the association criticizes.

Naudou “has been the only effective long-term tool that allows us to measure our progress” in reducing pesticide use, stresses Cédric Marteau, director general of the Bird Protection League.

“Surrender is an attempt to hide reality and a real step back. General interest does not arise from this.”