Bees are some of nature’s most prolific pollinators but their numbers have been declining for years, a fall blamed on a host of environmental risks – including agricultural chemicals and loss of natural habitat.
Earlier this month, an article in the scientific journal Nature raised fresh concerns about the effect two common crop insecticides have on bees.
The author, Juliet L. Osborne of the University of Exeter in Britain, said recent research linking the use of chemical insecticides to declining bumblebee populations merits fresh regulatory review. In the Nature article, she said “the balance between protecting crops from pest damage and protecting pollinators needs further consideration.”
Previous scientific studies have focused on a smaller species, the honey bee, with similar warnings about the impacts of agricultural chemicals.
Policymakers are under the gun to require farmers to develop buffers that nurture plant and wildlife diversity, sparking a debate in the EU over whether to make such policies obligatory in the post-2013 Common Agricultural Policy.
Ben Woodcock, of the British National Environment Research Council, argues that buffers and other habitats reduce the need for pesticides and fertilisers, help improve soil quality and make farmland more productive.
Referring to the role of bees and birds as pollinators, Woodcock told EurActiv: “If you keep damaging crop land, if you keep reducing the overall area of semi-natural habitats, these ecosystem services will actually decline.”
Woodcock, of the council’s Centre’s for Ecology and Hydrology, testified at a European Parliament conference last month that such buffers areas are good for productivity.
Meanwhile, a recently launched programme supported through European Union research funds seeks to encourage farmers to protect bees and other insect pollinators.
The Status and Trends of European Pollinators, or STEP programme, says bees and other pollinating insects are vital to the production of 84% of Europe’s crops, including fruits, vegetables and herbs. But the organisation notes that 16% of honeybee colonies have disappeared over a generation due to loss of habitat, disease and the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides.
EFSA report due in 2013
EFSA established a task force to review hundreds of scientific reports on threats to bee populations. The findings will now be assessed by EFSA’s scientific experts with their assessment to be published next year.
“With its mandate to improve EU food safety and to ensure a high level of consumer protection, EFSA has a responsibility to protect bees and the ecosystem services they provide to humans,” EFSA said in a statement.
The second EFSA report on bees for next year will build on the review of EFSA’s activities on bee-related risk assessment activities and research carried out by national, European and international bodies such as the French food safety agency Anses, the European Commission, the European Environment Agency and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
