The need to promote pollinator insects becomes more critical as reductions in biodiversity occur. The more the world moves towards mono-cropping, the more pollinators will be lost. Fortunately, there is ecological farming to safeguard pollinators.
My contribution below is based on my two experiences; rural and urban
In my rural home in Kenya, households have realized that their indigenous crops, especially vegetables are not as productive as before, lackily enough social networks have enabled them to share information on the need to increase the variety of crops on farms. The new trend is that once households have extra financial resources, they pull down live fences and put up fences of posts and wire or concrete. Households need more encouragement to plant live fences with flowering plants within homes - can be done together with the wire or concrete fence.
One way to communicate the pollinator message effectively is to link the solution to challenges rural people are faced with. For example, households with sickly livestock or poultry or crops be encouraged to plant certain pollinator friendly plants as a way to prevent the frequent occurence of some ailments.
In my urban setting, the practice of "beautiful" farms, yards, roadways and more has led to loss of biodiversity. But nature has it's way of crying out; large and small scale farmers, especially honey producers are feeling the effect of loss of diversity/pollinators, resulting in ongoing aggressive media campaigns on the need to protect and promote pollinator insects. The "cry" on loss of pollinators seems to have been heard as government (national, provincial, municipal) has formulated policies in support of biodiversity conservation, hence pollinators:
Our city authority has devised ways to encourage households to grow green lawns and avoid use of chemical sprays as the way to manage unwanted plants/weeds. The message is for people to uproot undesirable growths, rather than spray them.
Neighbourhoods are known to hold beautification competitions mainly based on the planting of flowers whenever weather conditions allow. In the process, many front and backyards are filled with bright flowers; habitat for pollinator insects. The city has put together guidelines for residents who want to "go green" - http://www.edmonton.ca/residential_neighbourhoods/gardens-lawns-trees.a…
Residents who have decided to "go green" can get a city lawn on their front yard with a message that they have gone green/bagless in tending to their yard. The trend is picking up, for once one neighbour goes green with the lawn sign, a nearby neighbour who sprays to "control weeds" will see the sign and hopefully rethink their practice.
Urban gardening is also used to promote pollinator insects. The current EatLocal movements in my city have seen increases in urban farming (see photos of my summer harvest on my Google+ account). Cities are comprised of multicultural groups and as more and more city dwellers buy into the idea to grow their food, most will obviously plant ethnocultural foods - indigenous vegetables = increased biodiversity = attract variety of insects = pollinators. Community gardens seem to have increased as more city dweller are in search of land to farm. To support urban farming activities, in 2016 the City formulated a policy to support farming activities http://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/urban_planning_and_design/urban-… There are numerous on-going activities in support of pollinator insects.
Based on observations from my two homes in rural and city, I am tempted to conclude that the message on sustainability, eat local, protect pollinators seems to have taken a faster and positive effect in my urban city compared to my rural home. In the rural area, business messages advertising intensive use of farming chemicals still overwhelms messages on the need to protect and promote pollinators through ecological farming. Based on this observation, my suggestion is the need for more emphasis of the pollinator message in rural areas; the same places where households rely on pollinators to sustain a land-based livelihood.
Regards to my readers.
Eileen
Eileen Omosa