Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
5.5.4 Conclusions
The implementation of the canine detection units, as part of the overall anti-poisoning strategy, has
been particularly effective in helping us gather more information and better understand/address the
magnitude of this problem. Perhaps most importantly, the existence and effi ciency of these units is a
powerful deterrent that often prevents criminals from leaving poisoned baits in the fi eld. Since early
2000, we estimate that the number of poisoning events have been reduced by up to 40%. All but one
of the species vulnerable to poison (the Egyptian vulture, which is still in decline, but less acutely
than before) have recovered signifi cantly. However, between 2001 and 2008, 90 species (including
55 avian, 25 mammalian, three reptilian, six piscivorous and one invertebrate) were poisoned within
Andalucía (Ruiz, Ortega, Valero et al. 2010). There is still work to be done in this area, but we have
excellent resources and personnel, and remain committed and united in our fi ght against poisoning.
5.6 Sociopolitical and rural infl uences on the management and
monitoring of carbofuran and its use to poison wildlife in Hungary
Péter Bed˝
In affi liation with Birdlife MME, Kolto u. 21, 1121 Budapest, Hungary
5.6.1 Introduction
In Hungary, political and social movements have had far-reaching impacts on the peoples' percep-
tions towards the way that traditional rural livelihoods are carried out and pesticides are managed.
Most people in rural areas seem to have a certain respect for things labeled as 'poison'. It may
be just as important that, as a legacy of the methods followed in the old, socialist-industrial-
agriculture system, the rules of access and use of chemicals are quite strict in Hungary. In a lot
of 'rural' areas of expertise (e.g., farming and forestry regulation, hunting) there seems to be a
tradition of doing things that predates even the intensive industrial agriculture of the socialist era
that ended around 1990, with strict procedures, traditions, code of ethics and tremendous pride
among the members of these 'clubs'. So, for example, someone in Hungary who had graduated
from the only, absolutely tradition-fi xated forestry university would provide the impression that
he (and usually not she) has a kind of self confi dence that is stereotypically possessed by doctors
or lawyers. This very controlled way of organisation and talking and thinking also seems to apply
to older veterinarians here.
Plant protection was quite a centralised business here, especially during the so-called socialism
before 1989. One could almost say that it was run like a military organisation, and both the experts of
this State-controlled, national plant protection service, and the plant protection experts working at the
different collective farms were highly skilled, taking a lot of pride in all their specialist knowledge.
The collective farms were created by nationalising private lands when the communist (later socialist)
regime took hold of Hungary after the Second World War. By the 1970s these socialist enterprises
were characterised by intensive, large-scale production, and in many cases they were headed or at
least managed by skilled experts, and though production was geared mostly towards quantity instead
of quality (the most important market being the Soviet Union), produce from some of the 'top'
collectives and State farms were successful in Western markets as well.
All these sociopolitical elements are mentioned to convey the feeling that there is a longstanding
tradition and culture of using pesticides in Hungary, which should make any accidental or uninten-
tional poisonings quite unlikely. Unfortunately, the demise of the collective farms meant that huge
amounts of these potential poisons were suddenly outside the realm of accountability. In this regard,
Search WWH ::
Custom Search