|
The United Nations is to spend US$26 million over the next five years in an effort to stop the decline of pollinator species such as bees, bats and birds vital for horticulture.
A rapid fall in bee numbers around the world over the past few years has alarmed horticulturalists and scientists as honey bees account for some 80 percent of insect pollination.
Without bees, key industries such as horticulture, small seed and pastoral farming would rapidly decline and food choices, such as fresh vegetables and table fruits would be lost.
In the United States, the loss of honey bees has been declared a crisis, with an unprecedented drop in hive populations starting in the (Northern Hemisphere) autumn of 2006 that spawned a new phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder.
Honey bee populations across the US have fallen by an estimated two thirds of pre-2006 numbers, with the decline attributed to a range of factors ranging form the varroa bee mite to the use of pesticides, habitat loss and the introduction of exotic species, while other studies have blamed cell phone radiation affecting bees ability to navigate to the use of genetically modified "terminator seeds".
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has announced a new five year, US26 million initiative to better protect bees, bats, birds and others that are essential to global crop production and biodiversity.
Under the initiative, best management practices for maintaining and protecting pollinator species will be introduced worldwide and countries and regions will be given assistance to help them protect pollinators.
The scheme is being funded by the Global Environment Facility and also coordinated by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
(c) NewsRoom 2008
|
|
