Bees and pollination – nature’s free “service”

It has been known for some time now that bees are getting extinct and that their extinction is affecting the food production chain. There are some grim statistics in this area, prompting numerous organisations to take action to save the bees. Therefore, this week marked the EU Pollinator Week, part of the EU initiative dedicated to wild pollinators.

Protection of bees and other pollinators is one of the key considerations in the process of pesticide approval in the EU. There are over 615,000 beekeepers across the European Union, and the EU and its member states co-fund national beekeeping programmes, offering education, research, and assistance in fighting pests.

Since 2012, the European Parliament has been hosting the EU Pollinator Week, unofficially dubbed “week of the bee.” This year, the event was renamed to EU Pollinator Week, to allow for a more inclusive cooperation framework focused on all kinds of wild pollinators in Europe.

The fourth and the last day of educational workshops within the EU Pollinator Week is held today, and experts have in the previous days discussed the health of pollinators, the latest scientific and policy actions regarding current challenges and potential solutions aimed at protecting European pollinators. Also, the participants discussed the role of pollinators in agriculture, honey production, and various other topics. More information about the event is available here.

One of the topics was the call for policy support of the highest level for the ambitious New Deal for Pollinators, which is designed to stop the decrease in the number of pollinators by 2030.

“Our quality of life and our future depend on numerous services we get from nature. Pollination is one of the most delicate, and one of the most invaluable ones. Therefore, it should be a cause for concern that some of our top-performing -pollinators are at a great risk! Unless we urgently tackle the root causes of the decrease of pollinators, our future generations will surely pay a high price,” said Virginijus Sinkevičius, EU Commissioner for Environment, Fisheries and Oceans.

More about beekeeping is available here.