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| Bee crisis: UK government launches 'urgent' review | Bee crisis: UK government launches 'urgent' review |
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| The government has launched an "urgent" review of the crisis facing bees and other pollinators in the UK and pledged to introduce a national pollinator strategy. | The government has launched an "urgent" review of the crisis facing bees and other pollinators in the UK and pledged to introduce a national pollinator strategy. |
| "As we all recognise, pollinators play a vital role in the security of our food supply and the quality of our natural environment," said Lord Rupert de Mauley, minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). "In safeguarding their future, we can secure our own." | "As we all recognise, pollinators play a vital role in the security of our food supply and the quality of our natural environment," said Lord Rupert de Mauley, minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). "In safeguarding their future, we can secure our own." |
| Friends of the Earth's executive director Andy Atkins said: "We're delighted that enormous pressure for a bee action plan from scientists, businesses and the public has stung the government into action. The minister's plan of action must be in place when bees emerge from hibernation next spring: we can't afford to gamble any longer with our food, countryside and economy." | Friends of the Earth's executive director Andy Atkins said: "We're delighted that enormous pressure for a bee action plan from scientists, businesses and the public has stung the government into action. The minister's plan of action must be in place when bees emerge from hibernation next spring: we can't afford to gamble any longer with our food, countryside and economy." |
| Bees and other pollinators fertilise three-quarters of global food crops and have seen severe declines in recent decades, due to loss of habitat, disease and harmful pesticides. In the UK, wild honey bees are nearly extinct, solitary bees are declining in more than half the areas studied and some species of bumblebee have been lost altogether. Poor weather last winter led to the death of a third of all honeybee colonies in England. In April, the European Union suspended the use of three neonicotinoid pesticides linked to serious harm in bees, despite the opposition of the UK ministers. | Bees and other pollinators fertilise three-quarters of global food crops and have seen severe declines in recent decades, due to loss of habitat, disease and harmful pesticides. In the UK, wild honey bees are nearly extinct, solitary bees are declining in more than half the areas studied and some species of bumblebee have been lost altogether. Poor weather last winter led to the death of a third of all honeybee colonies in England. In April, the European Union suspended the use of three neonicotinoid pesticides linked to serious harm in bees, despite the opposition of the UK ministers. |
| De Mauley said: "We know there are gaps in the evidence. That is why I am launching an urgent and comprehensive review of current policy, evidence and civil society action on pollinators to identify what needs to be done to integrate and step up our approach. This urgent review will form the basis of a national pollinator strategy, which will bring together all the pollinator-friendly initiatives already underway and provide an umbrella for new action." | De Mauley said: "We know there are gaps in the evidence. That is why I am launching an urgent and comprehensive review of current policy, evidence and civil society action on pollinators to identify what needs to be done to integrate and step up our approach. This urgent review will form the basis of a national pollinator strategy, which will bring together all the pollinator-friendly initiatives already underway and provide an umbrella for new action." |
| An independent group of experts convened by Defra's chief scientific adviser, Prof Ian Boyd, met for the first time earlier in June to identify gaps in knowledge about the state of the UK's pollinators. | An independent group of experts convened by Defra's chief scientific adviser, Prof Ian Boyd, met for the first time earlier in June to identify gaps in knowledge about the state of the UK's pollinators. |
| De Mauley noted existing government initiatives including 12 new Nature Improvement Areas to create more and better-connected habitats at a landscape scale and the promotion and funding of the sowing of nectar flower mixes on farmland. On pesticides, he said: "I do not deny for a moment that it is important to regulate pesticides effectively and to avoid unnecessary pesticide use. However, we all know that bees will be vulnerable, whether or not we put more restrictions on insecticides." | De Mauley noted existing government initiatives including 12 new Nature Improvement Areas to create more and better-connected habitats at a landscape scale and the promotion and funding of the sowing of nectar flower mixes on farmland. On pesticides, he said: "I do not deny for a moment that it is important to regulate pesticides effectively and to avoid unnecessary pesticide use. However, we all know that bees will be vulnerable, whether or not we put more restrictions on insecticides." |
| Pressure on the government to act has grown rapidly in recent months and included calls from over 200 MPs, businesses including Marks and Spencers. B&Q and the Co-operative and 70,000 members of the public. | |
| Lynne Dicks, an expert on wild pollinators at the University of Cambridge , said enhancing the food and nesting sites available to pollinators was one key problem that had to be addressed. "All pollinators, not just bees but also many flies, butterflies, moths, wasps and beetles, rely on flowers," she said. "But the number of flowers in the countryside declined calamitously in the 20th century: we lost 97% of our flower-rich meadows between 1930 and 1984." The Common Agricultural Policy should be used to restore grassland and planting more flowers on farmland, she said. | |
| "Through enhancing the yield of many high value crops, pollination is worth between £430m and £510 m to the UK economy," Dicks said. "But amazingly, pollination doesn't seem to be considered as an important agricultural input." She added that basic monitoring of pollinators was lacking: "At the moment, it is almost impossible for us to know whether actions to help bees and flies are having an effect, because we have no long-term monitoring." Finally she said overall pesticide use must be reduced, rather than increasing as it did by 6.5% between 2005 and 2010. The government's national action plan on pesticides, published in March, was required to establish timetables and targets for reductions but did not. Paul de Zylva, at Friends of the Earth, said: "This was more of an inaction plan." |