The Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention (CPSP) is delighted to announce that Keith Tyrell has officially started in his role as its new Head of Global Strategy.
Keith Tyrell, Head of Global Strategy
Keith, who is the former Director of Pesticide Action Network (PAN) UK, brings a huge amount of experience in driving policy change that has reduced the use of harmful pesticides – both in the UK and internationally – to the benefit of human health and the environment.
Some 20 per cent of global suicides are a result of self-poisoning by pesticides. Evidence shows the most effective way to prevent deaths is to restrict access to these toxic chemicals.
This is best achieved through government regulation to ban or phase out the most harmful pesticides.
In this newly created role, Keith will build on CPSP’s current initiatives and work strategically to encourage countries to regulate and phase out highly toxic pesticides and support farmers to adopt safer alternatives.
He will continue developing strategic relations with United Nations’ (UN) agencies, global civil society organisations and the private sector to make impactful changes in pesticide regulation.
Keith said: “I am really excited about starting in this new role and am passionate about tackling the problems caused by pesticides.
“Pesticide poisoning is a global health emergency with hundreds of thousands of people harmed every year.
“CPSP can help governments to develop and implement effective policies to end this tragic, and avoidable, situation.”
Michael Eddleston, Director of CPSP, said: “We are delighted to welcome Keith and have him on our team.
“His experience and leadership will be invaluable in helping us to achieve our goals to remove acutely toxic pesticides from agriculture, which will not only save lives but also bring benefits to the environment.”
In his previous roles, Keith developed and managed large-scale, multi-year agricultural programs in East and West Africa, helping thousands of farmers to reduce their reliance on pesticides and improve their livelihoods.
He has extensive experience in monitoring and evaluation and has worked with UN agencies, governments and supply chain initiatives to phase out highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) and transition to effective, safer alternatives.
Keith holds two postgraduate qualifications – an MA in Environment, Development and Policy and a DPhil in Development Studies – both from the University of Sussex. For his DPhil, Keith researched the impact of pesticides on small-scale farmers in the Caribbean.