Pesticide behaviour in soils, water and air
Pest Management Group: Conference to pay tribute to Allan Walker 27-29 March 2006
 Safe
use of pesticides that ensures a robust protection of the
environment has been high on the public and political agenda
for nearly 40 years. It is essential that we understand the
complex, interacting processes that control the behaviour
of pesticides and determine potential for transport away from
the point of application to receiving compartments such as
water resources and air. This conference will bring together
scientists from around the globe to take a holistic view of
research in this field, building from molecular to landscape
scales. The Pesticide behaviour in soils, water and air conference will also pay tribute to the life and
career of Allan Walker, formerly of Horticulture Research
International, who tragically passed away after a short illness
early in 2004.
The conference is the latest in a series of international
symposia on pesticides in the environment. The first conference
was held in 1991 with subsequent meetings in 1995 and 2000.
These were chaired by Allan Walker, who was recognised internationally
for his work on pesticides in the environment. The scientific
community felt strongly that it would be a fitting tribute
to Walker’s life and career to hold a fourth conference
in the series. Walker undertook some of the founding research
for pesticides in the environment during the 1970s. The opening
presentation of the conference will be given by Richard Allen
from Bayer CropScience in the US who will explore some of
the avenues of research opened up by Walker, with whom he
studied for his PhD. He will also look at how these fields
of research have developed and identify challenges for the
future.
The main body of the conference comprises 35 platform and
80 poster presentations given by scientists from 13 different
countries. The first two sessions of the conference provide
an in-depth analysis of the latest work on sorption and degradation
of pesticides in soil. The conference will then discuss microbiological
and molecular aspects of pesticide degradation. Three sessions
will investigate fate and transport processes for environmental
compartments that are protected from contamination by pesticides:
groundwater, surface water and air.
Our understanding of how pesticides behave in the environment
has recently begun to be framed within the context of agricultural
landscapes as integrated units. The sixth main topic will
explore spatially explicit modelling of pesticide fate and
how this can increase realism in risk assessment and help
to target management of chemical use. The final session will
discuss how knowledge gained at all scales of study can be
combined to design label mitigation measures to give effective
protection of the environment.
Colin Brown, Pest Management Group
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