The stakeholder-consultation process in developing training and awareness raising material within the framework of the EU Directive on Sustainable Use of Pesticides: The case of the EU-project BROWSE

In September 2009, the Council of the European Union adopted the Directive on Sustainable Use of Pesticides (SUD). The core idea is that in order to achieve sustainable use of pesticides, it is necessary that everyone is conscious about the risks to both human health and the environment associated with the use of plant protection products. Therefore, in the SUD, training and raising awareness play key roles in order to achieve the objectives of the directive. In this sense, the European-founded project BROWSE (Bystanders, Residents, Operators and WorkerS Exposure models for plant protection products) has, as one of its main objectives, to contribute to the implementation of the SUD through the development and dissemination of communication materials for training and raising awareness. For this reason, a consultation process was implemented involving all relevant stakeholders in order to identify their opinions regarding the subjects to be prioritised, the factors influencing pesticide exposure to be focused on and the most suitable formats to develop training and awareness-raising material as well as identification of target groups. To collect the required information, participants were asked to answer an electronic questionnaire (giving the possibility through several debates for additional comments). The collected findings and the ensuing debates are described in this article and are going to be taken into account in the development of the BROWSE training and communication material for the raising of awareness.