Pollination is a fundamental process for the survival of ecosystems, essential for the production and reproduction of many crops and wild plants. We depend on pollinators and, therefore, it is crucial to control their decline.

Bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, bats, and hummingbirds, are increasingly threatened by the effects of human activity. Almost 35% of invertebrate pollinators – particularly bees and butterflies – and around 17% of vertebrate pollinators – such as bats – are threatened with extinction globally.

Pollination is a fundamental process for the survival of ecosystems, essential for the production and reproduction of many crops and wild plants. Almost 90% of flowering plants rely on pollination to reproduce. In addition, 75 percent of the world’s food crops depend to some extent on pollination and 35 percent of the world’s agricultural land. Pollinators not only contribute directly to food security, but are also indispensable for conserving biodiversity. We depend on pollinators and, therefore, it is crucial to control their decline.

To raise awareness about the importance of pollinators, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development, the United Nations declared May 20 as World Bee Day, which this year is celebrated under the slogan “Commitment to bees: building back better for the benefit of bees”.

On the other hand, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), aware of the dimensions of the pollination crisis and its relationship with biodiversity and human livelihoods, has made the conservation and sustainable use of pollinators a priority, establishing the International Pollinator Initiative as a cross-cutting initiative to promote global coordinated action. The objective is to observe and control the decline in the number of pollinators; addressing the problem of lack of taxonomic information on pollinators; assess the economic impact of declining pollination services, and promote the conservation, recovery and sustainable use of pollinator diversity in agriculture and related ecosystems.

From the Biodiversity Foundation we have supported 14 projects that favor the protection of pollinators, of which 5 are currently in execution.

For example, the Association of Naturalists of the Southeast (ANSE) is developing the project “Corridors for the adaptation of pollinator populations to climate change“, following the recommendation of the CBD that proposes, for the conservation and sustainable use of pollinators, the restoration of corridors to increase the connectivity of favorable habitats and support the dispersal of species and the flow of genes for their adaptation to climate change.

For its part, the Autonomous University of Madrid is working on the restoration of Livestock Trails as Green Infrastructures for the conservation of wild bees in areas of the Natura 2000 Network, specifically in the Regional Park of the Middle Course of the Guadarrama River, the Regional Park of the Southeast and the Regional Park of the Upper Basin of the Manzanares. with special attention to critical habitats for wild bees and to increase connectivity between Natura 2000 Network sites.