Increasing applied pesticide toxicity trends counteract the global reduction target to safeguard biodiversity

The 15th United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) obligates all countries to reduce pesticide risks by 50% by 2030. In this study, we derived the trends of total applied toxicity (TAT) globally between 2013 and 2019, weighting applied masses by ecotoxicity, of 625 pesticides for eight species groups to assess pathways toward this reduction goal. We found that the TAT of most species groups has increased; that only 20 ± 14 pesticides per group define >90% of the TAT nationally; that fruits, vegetables, maize, soybean, rice, and other cereals contribute 76 to 83% of the global TAT; and that China, Brazil, the United States, and India contribute 53 to 68% of the global TAT. Our target achievement categorization shows that substantial actions, combining shifts to less-toxic pesticides, increased adoption of organic agriculture, and also provision of national pesticide use data, will be required globally to approach the United Nations’ target.