Subject: PANUPS: Japan-to-Cambodia Pesticide Aid

From: Pesticide Action Network North America Reg Ctr <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 13:17:12 PST

PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK NORTH AMERICA UPDATES SERVICE
=========================================================
JAPANESE NGOS SPEAK OUT ON AGRO-TOXIC AID TO CAMBODIA

January 22, 1992

Japanese citizens' and environmental groups, including the Japan 
Tropical Forest Action Network (JATAN), Japan Consumers' Union,  
Friends of the Earth Japan,  Official Development Assistance 
(ODA) Study Group, and the Pacific-Asia Resource Center (PARC) 
visited the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on December 22, 1992, to 
urge re-appraisal of a major agricultural grant package destined for 
Cambodia. The Japanese government is planning to provide grant aid 
totalling 500 million yen (about US$4 million) for agricultural 
chemicals, chemical fertilizers and agricultural equipment to Cambodia 
as Raid for increased food production.S 350 million yen worth of 
agricultural chemicals will be sent, including diazinon, sumithion, and 
sumicidin manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical Co. and Nippon 
Kayaku Co.
	The government has refused to release to citizensU groups in 
Cambodia or Japan any information on the aid package, including plans 
on how these chemicals would be used in Cambodia. It also appears that 
no environmental impact assessment or feasibility study has been 
conducted on the aid project. Shipments to Cambodia were scheduled to 
begin in late December 1992. 
	The ecological balance in other Southeast Asian countries, 
including Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, has been 
damaged by heavy use of agricultural chemicals, causing the emergence 
of huge pest populations and a subsequent decrease in food production. 
NGOs active in Cambodia fear the same will happen to the 
agroecosystems in that country, where a balance currently exists 
between pests and their natural enemies. Moreover, the NGOs are 
concerned that the aid program will lead to massive future imports of 
agrochemicals from Japan, leading to a repetition of the tragedies of 
other Asian nations heavily burdened by debts from the purchase of 
agricultural chemicals and fertilizers.
	The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 
has advised against the pesticide donation to Cambodia.  Despite this,  
Japanese government seems intent on proceeding. The Grant Aid 
Division of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has told representatives of 
concerned NGOs that "appropriate local guidance" will be provided by 
NGOs in Cambodia, and that only "registered and safe agrochemicals" 
will be used in this aid grant.   Questioned on specific guidance and 
monitoring measures, Mikio Nakamura, senior assistant for grant aid, 
admitted that there is really no means to  supervise the use of these 
chemicals by individual farmers. 
	On January 12, representatives of the Coordination Committee 
for Cambodia (CCC), which consists of Japanese and other NGOs 
concerned with the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Cambodia, 
expressed their opposition to this agricultural aid program to the 
Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture and the Japanese Embassy in 
Cambodia. NGOs concerned with the negative impact of this plan and 
the secrecy with which it has been surrounded will continue to meet 
with Japanese and Cambodian officials concerning the environmental 
impact of pesticide use in Cambodia and the problems with lack of 
public disclosure.
	Concerned citizens throughout the world are urged to write 
letters to the Japanese Ministry of Forestry,  and to the Japanese Embassy 
in their own countries, calling for immediate suspension of the "Aid 
for Increased Food Production" project in Cambodia.  Address letters to :
Mikio Watanabe, Foreign Minister, 2-2-1 Kasumigaseki Chiyoda-ku, 
Tokyo 100, Japan; fax (81-3) 5511-8638.

	SOURCE/CONTACT: JATAN, 7-2-802 UGUISUDANI-CHO, 
SHIBUYA-KU, TOKYO 150, JAPAN; PHONE (81-3) 3770-6308; FAX: 
(81-3) 3770-0727
=========================================================
	This information is provided by the Pesticide Action Network North 
America Updates Service (PANUPS), a pesticide-related news service from 
the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) North American Regional Center. 
Updates are posted weekly on EcoNet in the "en.pesticides," 
"en.agriculture" and other appropriate electronic conferences, and 
distributed worldwide across the APC computer network. PANUPS is also 
posted in the Public Conference on RTK NET, on GeoNet in the 
PESTICIDES-BBS bulletin board, on FidoNet in The Ecology Network, on 
the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SANET) on BitNet, and on PENpages 
agriculture information service at Penn State Univ. Hard-copy compilations 
of these updates are also available. For more information about PAN 
activities and publications, contact: PAN NA RC, 965 Mission Street #514, 
San Francisco, CA 94103. Tel: (415) 541-9140. Fax: (415) 541-9253. Telex: 
156283472 PANNA. E-mail address on EcoNet: [email-masked]
==========================================================