The Director General of the Spanish Office for Climate Change of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment (MAPAMA), Valvanera Ulargui, accompanied by the Deputy Director General of the Natural Environment of the Directorate General of Environmental Quality and Assessment and the Natural Environment of the Ministry, Miguel Aymerich, chaired this morning the first informative breakfast on the vulnerability of bees to climate change. within the framework of the LIFE SHARA project, coordinated by the Ministry.
The conclusions of the study “Impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change of Mediterranean beekeeping” were presented today, with the support of the Ministry’s Biodiversity Foundation, coordinator of the project. The results of this study have been presented by the researcher from the University of Vic and the Centre for Research in Agri-Food Economics and Development (CREDA-UPC-IRTA), Feliu López i Gelats.
Within the framework of the European LIFE SHARA project “Awareness and knowledge for adaptation to climate change”, the objective of one of its actions is to achieve an adequate and improved treatment of the information related to adaptation to climate change reflected and generated by the media. To achieve this objective, various information days will be held in which different aspects related to adaptation to climate change in Spain will be discussed in a monographic way.
Ulargui stressed that “the LIFE SHARA project seeks to strengthen technical capacities and improve coordination to transmit studies on adaptation. Its actions are aimed at very diverse groups to ensure that the information received is the best possible to inspire public policies on adaptation and prepare us for the impacts of climate change in a country like Spain, which has been a pioneer in climate change adaptation policies”.
THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON BEES
In this first informative breakfast, the vulnerability of bees to climate change has been discussed in order to facilitate a better understanding of the impact of climate change on this issue. Bees are essential in the conservation of ecosystems. These pollinators are declining around the world, affected by many causes, and climate change is another factor that affects the benefits they provide.
As Miguel Aymerich has highlighted, “Spain is part of the coalition of countries for the conservation of pollinators, and the Ministry is working to prevent the presence of invasive exotic species such as the Asian hornet and protecting apiaries in areas where the brown bear lives”.
Some experts estimate the economic value of pollination as a global ecological service at more than 250,000 million euros and, specifically, beekeeping in Spain is a sector of growing importance, being the EU country that houses the most hives, estimated to be over 2,500,000.
A PROJECT TO ADAPT TO THE CHANGE IN WATER
LIFE SHARA “Awareness and knowledge for adaptation to climate change” is a project coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment, and has the support of the Spanish Office for Climate Change, the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), the Autonomous Agency of National Parks, through the National Center for Environmental Education (CENEAM), and the Portuguese Agency for the Environment.
The breakfasts of the LIFE SHARA project are training spaces aimed at disseminators and communicators in which the most current knowledge on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change is presented, to contribute to a better communication of the influence of climate change on issues of social and environmental interest. This first breakfast on bees and climate change is the first of eight meetings that LIFE SHARA plans to hold.
