Europe could be facing a ‘serious pollinator crisis’ unless coordinated action is taken to halt the decline of wild pollinator species, a new study has suggested.
The study, Towards pollinator stewardship in all policies: Policy incoherence in the EU is a major barrier to pollinator restoration, was prepared by a team of 135 researchers from eight EU-funded research consortia, including the projects BUTTERFLY, RestPoll, ProPollSoil and PolinERA. It also involved researchers from Aarhus University.
Fragmented policy
As it noted, current EU policies to protect wild pollinators are too fragmented, with responsibility spread across agriculture, environment, chemicals regulation, trade and finance.
This ‘lack of coordination’ has led to a lack of coherent response, the researchers state.
Pollinator decline also reflects wider pressures placed on ecosystems through human activity, they note, adding that restoring pollinator populations will require land management and environmental policies that are closely aligned with scientific evidence on how to support resilient ecosystems.
Best intentions
With this in mind, existing conservation initiatives, while well-intentioned, may not be delivering the intended results.
“Many farmers establish flower strips, but few are aware that some moth species are actually more effective pollinators than honey bees,” commented the report’s lead author, Professor Jeroen van der Sluijs at the Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities, University of Bergen.
In addition, the report suggests that the stakeholders that hold the greatest influence on pollinator habits also lack sufficient knowledge, with the researchers recommending the integration of education on ecosystems and pollinators into a wider range of academic disciplines.
In the report, the researchers present a roadmap containing 15 concrete recommendations, based on the latest scientific evidence, which range from policy coordination and regulation to promoting new approaches to agricultural practices and education.
Read the full report, Towards pollinator stewardship in all policies: Policy incoherence in the EU is a major barrier to pollinator restoration, here.
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