Honeybees (Apis mellifera), wild bees, and other pollinators can be adversely affected by pesticides as well as other stressors, with potentially large economic and ecological consequences. Legislation is one possible tool which can be used to support actions to protect pollinators from pesticides. Several documents have been published at the international level to provide guidance on the development of pesticide legislation, environmental legislation, and so on. For example, the FAO-WHO International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management – Guidelines on Pesticide Legislation (2nd Edition) provides detailed point-by-point guidance for the development of national pesticide laws. However, the protection of pollinators is not specifically discussed in these Guidelines. Currently, no comprehensive review has been identified of the different legislative approaches taken by countries to protect pollinators from pesticides, or broader legislation that that can be used directly or indirectly to support actions to protect pollinators from adverse effects caused by the use of pesticides.

Objectives: Accordingly, the objectives of the present review are to:

• Compile examples of provisions from legislation in selected countries that can be used directly or indirectly to support actions to protect pollinators from adverse effects caused by the use of pesticides;
• Identify trends in the organization and content of such legislation across the selected countries; and,
• Identify potential gaps and good practices in current legislation of selected countries

This review is intended to contribute background information to the FAO Global Seminar on Strengthening Regulations to Protect Pollinators from Pesticides to be held in February 2022, within the context of capacity building related to Phase III of the African, Caribbean and the Pacific Countries (ACP) Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) Programme (abbreviated ACP MEAs 3).