Many species of bees, butterflies and other creatures that are vital to agricultural pollination are threatened with extinction, posing risks to major world crops and global biodiversity..
“Many wild bees and butterflies have been declining in abundance, occurrence and diversity at local and regional scales in Northwest Europe and North America,” said an assessment by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
It said declines in pollinators – which also include a vast range of other insects, bats, birds and other animals – had also been detected elsewhere in the world.
The problem facing policymakers is that scientists remain unsure exactly which factors are the biggest drivers.
The world’s first assessment of its kind said possible causes include habitat loss, pesticides, pollution, invasive species, pathogens, climate change and the spread of vast farms dedicated to a single product, which suppresses biodiversity.
The IPBES was established under UN auspices in 2012 to assess the state of global biodiversity.
It said healthy populations of the creatures are critical to ensuring stable fruit and vegetable output, as concerns rise over the challenge of feeding the world’s people in coming decades.
Among its findings, IPBES said animal pollination is directly responsible for between 5 and 8 per cent of global agricultural production by volume, amounting to between $235 billion (Dh863 billion) and $577 billion worth of annual output. Pollination is the transfer of pollen between the male and female parts of flowers to enable reproduction.
But more than three-quarters of the “leading types of global food crops” also rely to some extent on animal pollination for yield and quality.
“Pollinator-dependent species encompass many fruit, vegetable, seed, nut and oil crops, which supply major proportions of micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals in the human diet,” the IPBES said.
The assessment is the work of nearly 80 scientists from around the world and was released at an IPBES meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
In Europe, 9 per cent of bee and butterfly species are threatened with extinction and populations are declining for 37 per cent of bee species and 31 per cent of butterfly species for which sufficient data is available, the IPBES said.
In some places in Europe more than 40 per cent of bee species may be threatened.
Some of the most important world food staples such as rice, wheat and other grains do not rely on animal pollination.
But vulnerable crops could include everything from apples and mangoes, to chocolate and almonds, and many other commonly consumed foods, said Simon Potts, co-chair of the assessment.
Policy options could be as simple as planting more flowers, the group said.
But it also mentioned overall better protection of natural environments and ecosystems, limiting the scope of intensive agriculture, encouraging sustainable farming, and finding alternatives to pesticides.
