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FEATURE The Pollen Crisis The annual Biodiversity and Councils’ All-Ireland Pollinator conference put the spotlight
The Pollen Crisis
on local authorities’ vital role in protecting threatened pollinators.
O
Up to 33% of Ireland's bee population now face extinction.
ne-third of Ireland’s bee species now face extinction. Habitat loss, pesticide use,
Data Centre and one of the forces behind the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, 2015-2020.
recorded 91.
Community groups, including Tidy
and dwindling biodiversity are decimating our 20 native species of bumblebee and 77 species of wild solitary bee. Councils can lead the battle to save pollinators. That was the message at Cork’s recent Biodiversity and Councils’ All-Ireland Pollinator Plan conference, as originally reported by Ellie Byrne in the Irish Examiner.
As the country-wide action plan reaches the end of its five-year term, Dr Fitzpatrick said things are still “pretty dire” for Ireland’s 97 bee species. “Between 2012 and 2018, species were still in decline,” she said.
Towns committees, have recorded 312 actions and there have been 218 actions from gardens.
While gardeners, farmers, businesses, and community groups play a role in reversing the fate of Ireland’s bee species, local authorities, who manage large tracts of public land, must change their land management practices to help the insects on which we rely for our food crops.
However, it could be 2025 or even 2030 before the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan has an impact and before threatened pollinators show signs of a recovery, Dr Fitzgerald said.
Now, just one year from the end of the five-year plan, local authorities are signing up to a framework agreement, launched in March 2019, in a bid by the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan to improve uptake from councils. Dr Fitzpatrick said the response from councils has been “really positive”.
Representatives from city and county councils nationwide attended the day-long conference of talks on strategies to help declining bee species. Topics included cultivating wildflower meadows, reducing the use of pesticides, and planting pollinator-friendly flowers in public parks.
‘This is a long game, but one we’re happy to commit to’
Dr Úna Fitzpatrick is a senior ecologist at the National Biodiversity
On the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan’s interactive map, even school children are out-performing local authorities: Irish councils have recorded 80 actions to protect bees since the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan was launched in 2015. But schools have
In early March 4th, Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny County Council, Cllr. Eamon Aylward and Chief Executive Colette Byrne signed a framework agreement with the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan to formalise Kilkenny County Council’s long-term commitment to support pollinators in County Kilkenny, becoming the first county to do so.
Many Irish people feel local and national government isn’t putting pollinators first.
The agreement calls on local authorities to take one pollinator- promoting action within the first year, to make a record of the actions they are taking, and to provide an annual report.
Some 88% of Irish people said the Government isn’t working hard enough to save bees, according to a survey conducted by the All-Ireland Pollinator plan last year. And 72% want more educational measures, 69% want government bodies to stop using pesticides, and 63% want more pollinator-friendly planting in parks.
Of Ireland’s 31 local authorities, six have so far signed up.
The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan is a
Council Journal 69