May 20 is World Bee Day , established by the United Nations (UN) to raise awareness about the protection of pollinators, essential for 75% of food crops and global biodiversity .Despite their importance, bees are increasingly threatened by pesticides, habitat loss and climate change.
The importance of pollinators
Pollination is a fundamental process for the survival of ecosystems.Nearly 90% of the world's wild flowering plant species depend, entirely or at least in part, on animal pollination , along with more than 75% of the world's food crops and 35% of global agricultural land .
Pollinators not only contribute directly to food security, but are essential for the conservation of biodiversity.
Thanks to their activity, they guarantee vital benefits for the majority of agricultural production, both food and non-food , and for the maintenance of biodiversity, thus proving essential and irreplaceable.
Over 200,000 animal species are pollinators , most of them wild, including butterflies, birds, bats and over 20,000 species of bees.
Apoidea include wild Apoidea and managed honeybees, Apis mellifera. The ligustica variety is known worldwide as the Italian bee.
Bees and other pollinators also serve as indicators of environmental health, providing information about ecosystems and climate.
However, bees are increasingly endangered by multiple factors, from habitat loss to pesticide use, climate change and parasites, and their protection requires constant and growing commitment.
World Bee Day
This year’s theme, Nature-inspired Bees to Feed Us All , highlights the crucial role that bees and other pollinators play in food systems and the health of the planet’s ecosystems .Indeed, pollinators are increasingly threatened by habitat loss, unsustainable agricultural practices, climate change and pollution.
Their decline is associated with a series of environmental pressures that often act in synergy with each other such as: destruction, degradation and fragmentation of habitats; pollution by physical and chemical agents; climate change and spread of invasive alien species; parasites and pathogens.
All of this puts food production at risk, increases costs and exacerbates food insecurity, particularly for rural communities.
Ispra's activity
For at least two decades, Ispra has been involved in initiatives and projects to monitor the environment and pollinator populations , including honeybees.Among these, Apincittà , a monitoring survey of bees and flora of beekeeping interest, in collaboration with the Carabinieri Forestry, Environmental and Agri-food Unit Command (CUFAA) and the VeBS project on the good use of green and blue spaces for the promotion of health and well-being, also through the protection of ecosystem services.
The recent Directive on Biodiversity issued on 5 September 2024 by the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, focuses on actions aimed at addressing the decline of pollinating insects, continuing the ambitious path undertaken with the 2019 Directive and implemented with subsequent ones.
This is a global problem , which has affected many countries of the European Union and also Italy, and which is also at the centre of the new EU Biodiversity Strategy and the related Nature Restoration Plan.
Monitoring is central and essential for studying the phenomenon of the decline of these insects, understanding its causes and planning effective countermeasures.
This activity will have to be updated periodically in light of the European monitoring scheme to provide complete information on the populations of pollinators: Apoidea, diurnal and nocturnal Lepidoptera and Syrphid Diptera.
Monitoring is carried out on the basis of standardized methods that include the use of specific guidelines created by ISPRA and the University of Turin, to allow field operators of all National Parks to collect data and then channel them into a shared network identified in the National Network for Biodiversity. (Source: https://www.isprambiente.gov.it /)