The Royal Bird Protection Society (RSPB) and a number of other environmental groups have quit the UK government pesticide forum, saying that voluntary efforts to reduce chemicals in agriculture are failing.

The Wilderness and Countryside Charitable Foundation and Organization and the Pesticide Control Network (PAN) of the United Kingdom have sent a formal declaration to the UK Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (Defra) about their formal resignation from the Pesticides Forum and the Voluntary Initiative (VI) .

These two groups were created by the government in the 1990s to reduce environmental damage caused by pesticides. The RSPB said that from the 1990s to the present, the use of pesticides has increased from 45 million ha to 70 million ha today.

Environmental groups argue that, according to recent data on the environmental impacts of pesticides, they can no longer "stand by", claiming that two government initiatives "strengthen the position of group interests."

RSPB and green groups have called for the replacement of voluntary pesticide surveillance authorities with mandatory measures that will actively discourage pesticides and support farmers using non-chemical alternatives.