James Edge

Many thanks to everyone so far who has participated in this discussion so far.
What is apparent is the interest in beekeeping and bee products is from people with a wide range of backgrounds from beekeepers to consumers to producers. The issues themselves are also vast, from food standards to marketing to livelihoods and income generation. Bees and beekeeping is having a bit of a renaissance, with news of bee decline in the news across the globe and urban beekeeping taking off in many continents.
These discussions are also timely as Apimondia, the world federation of beekeeper associations, holds its major apiculture congress in Korea this September. Early next year we will also see the launch of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report focussing on pollination.
We are looking forward to reading the next round of comments.
James Edge
Thank you everyone who has taken part in this interesting discussion on the role of pollinators and promoting their role in environmental and agricultural practices. Responses were received from all over the world – pollination is clearly an issue that is widespread and topical. The result is a diverse range of priorities and practical solutions to promoting pollinators in agriculture – many of which can be adapted to a range of local conditions.
Information about how we can protect pollinators seems to be available, but more work needs to be done to raise awareness, answering questions such as What is pollination? Which species are pollinators? Why is pollination so important?.
In addition, more training and support is needed to promote pollinator-friendly practices. These issues, and, in particular, the question how we can tackle the human-induced challenges to pollinator species – especially the use of pesticides, habitat loss and climate change – need to be raised at a policy level.
These lessons will be shared through FAO networks and remain online as a valuable resource.
Thank you again for all your contributions.
James Edge
James Edge
Thank you all for the very interesting responses so far. It seems that issues affecting pollinators is reasonably well understood – although more research is still needed on the precise interactions between human activities and pollinators.
Access to information and awareness-raising is a common theme. Although some countries have a lot of information available to the public and country pollinator strategies (such as the UK), many countries do not. More accessible information needs to be made available to the public on how they can help pollinators at a local level. Training should also be given to agricultural workers – and included in extension services and college course curriculum.
In terms of agriculture, many suggestions were made to create habitats, buffer zones, field margins and so on for pollinator species. This in addition to planting flowering plants suitable for the local populations of insects. Mithare Prasad from India provides a succinct summary of solutions, in particular in relation to honey bees.
Urban planning is also an area of concern – where green areas and landscaping need to be pollinator friendly. Urban agriculture is practiced by 800 million people worldwide – so is not an insignificant area that needs to be proactive.
The need for policies that promote pollinator friendly agriculture and practices was also highlighted by several respondents. Lal Manavado from Norway provides a nice summary of the issues and suggests that it is possible to create a common strategy that can be adapted to local conditions.
We look forward to reading more of your comments in the coming few days.