The EU’s New Deal for Pollinators (Ep. 7)
In today’s mini-episode, we look at the recently announced EU’s New Deal for Pollinators. The Initiative aims to improve wild pollinator conservation in Europe, with a focus on bees and hoverflies, as well as other insect species. The Initiative aims to address the causes of pollinator decline by preserving species and habitats, reducing pesticide use, restoring habitats in agricultural landscapes, and tackling the effects of climate change. The updated Initiative includes a comprehensive monitoring system to collect data and assess whether pollinator decline has been reversed. It also aims to ensure that pesticides allowed in the EU do not pose a threat to bees.
We talked about a variety of reports and research in the episode. Here are links if you’d like to learn more:
This is the Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination, and Food Production from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. It addresses many concerns, including the role of native pollinators, the status of and trends in pollinators, and drivers of change.
More information on the citizens’ initiative “Save bees and farmers! Towards a bee-friendly agriculture for a healthy environment.”
This is the European Union’s general page covering pollinators.
Details on the European Green Deal, with a goal of transforming the EU into “a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy.”
The EU’s Biodiversity Strategy
Did you know?
The EU isn’t the only government looking at protecting pollinators. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed various actions to protect pollinators. The UK has a Pollinator Action Plan 2021-2024 proposed by the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs.
Transcript
Welcome to The Bee’s Knees; I’m your host, Jacy Meyer. In Europe, around four in five crop and wild-flowering plant species depend, at least to some extent, on pollination from insects. Pollinating insects have declined dramatically in diversity and abundance in recent decades, with many being threatened with extinction. Today, we’re going to talk about the European Union’s A New Deal for Pollinators. This is a revised initiative presented in January of this year of the EU Pollinators Initiative, which was introduced in 2018.
The EU’s Initiative from 2018 put in place policy tools to address pollinator decline and made significant progress in the monitoring of pollinators. This renewed Initiative sets out actions to be taken by the EU and its member states to reverse the decline of pollinators by 2030.
Interestingly, this revised Initiative focuses on wild pollinators. In Europe, the primary pollinators are bees and hoverflies, but butterflies, moths, some beetles, and other fly insects also have essential roles to play. Bees are the most prolific, with nearly 2,000 wild bee species in the EU. The Initiative hopes to address challenges common to all pollinators by focusing on wild pollinator species.
The key priority is to improve pollinator conservation and tackle the causes of their decline. Steps include better preservation of species and habitats, restoring habitats in agricultural landscapes, reducing the impact of pesticide use, boosting pollinator habitats in urban areas, and tackling the effects of climate change on pollinators, invasive alien species, and other threats.
So, what does the updated Initiative plan to do? First, it establishes a comprehensive monitoring system so member states have a methodology for data collection. The Commission hopes this will give us a better and fuller picture of the problem and provide information to assess whether pollinator decline has been reversed. Plus, a strong EU-wide monitoring scheme will set out a structure to build effective conservation and restoration measures for pollinator populations. It also addresses current pesticide risks, intending to ensure that pesticides allowed in the EU do not pose a threat to bees.
If you’ve been listening to The Bee’s Knees, you know no single cause of pollinator decline exists. A report published by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services cites land-use change, intensive agricultural management and pesticide use, environmental pollution, invasive alien species, pathogens, and climate change as the main threats to pollinators.
In the EU, around one in three bee, butterfly, and hoverfly species is declining. Even more distressing, one in ten bee and butterfly species and one in three hoverfly species are threatened with extinction. But these figures don’t tell the whole story, as researchers still struggle with a lack of data. We don’t have the numbers for more than half of the bee species to determine their status or monitor trends.
When protecting pollinators, it is critical that we address species richness and abundance. This is crucial for effective and stable crop pollination. We also have to remember diversity. Diversity guarantees that plants will be pollinated even if certain species are struggling. Diversity also creates the ability for bees to be resilient to an ever-changing environment, especially in the face of climate change.
The EU’s New Deal for Pollinators addresses many of the most crucial aspects of pollinator loss. But is it enough? Some environmental groups say no, the initiative doesn’t go far enough, especially when it comes to pesticide use. Just weeks after the New Deal for Pollinators was announced, a petition by the European Citizens Initiative “Save the bees and farmers, towards a bee-friendly agriculture for a healthy environment” was presented to the European Parliament. This petition was led by citizens and NGOs and calls for a ban on synthetic pesticides. Signed by more than one million people, it demands EU-binding targets to reduce synthetic pesticides by 80% in 2030 and a total ban by 2035. As for the EU’s plan, it now must be endorsed by the European Parliament and the Council, which represents EU governments. It’ll then be up to EU members to identify steps to reverse the decline of pollinators by 2030.
Thanks so much for listening to this mini-episode. More information on the EU Pollinator Law can be found in the show notes, which can always be found on our website, thebeesknees.website. The bees and I will be back in two weeks; until then, keep buzzing.