National Action Plan 2025 – released
The National Action Plan 2025 has been published by DEFRA today (21 March 2025).
The UK Pesticides National Action Plan 2025: Working for a more sustainable future, jointly developed by all four governments, has been published today. The plan has undergone significant development since the last version was published in 2013 and sets out the actions to minimise the risks and impacts of pesticides to human health and the environment over the next five years,The plan encompasses a broad range of policies to increase the uptake of sustainable pest management, measures to monitor pesticide use and strengthen compliance. It also includes the UK’s first domestic reduction target for pesticide use.We want to support greater uptake of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) across all sectors to reduce reliance on the use of conventional chemical pesticides. IPM emphasises making use of a wider variety of control and protection methods, including lower risk alternatives, and promoting natural processes. For example, creating habitats for natural predators of plant pests, or using crop rotations to break pest, weed and disease cycles.Ensuring compliance with pesticides legislation is an important part of our shared approach to achieving the high-level aim of minimising the risks and impacts of pesticides. We want to support awareness and understanding of these legal requirements to ensure good levels of compliance across all sectors.All four governments are committed to implementing a range of activities to help achieve the ambitious objectives and target in the plan, as well as implementing measures directly in Wales, such as those through our Sustainable Faming Scheme to help halt and reverse the decline in biodiversity.
