The French Minister of Environment, Energy and the Sea, Ségolène Royal, highlighted actions being undertaken in sectors across France to protect pollinators and pollination services essential to food security and wider human wellbeing
Addressing policymakers, stakeholders and scientists about the importance of biodiversity for people, the Minister pointed to the recent report by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production. This report found that although as much as $577 billion of annual global food production relies on direct contributions by pollinators, there have been large-scale declines in wild pollinators across parts of Europe and North America, with up to 16% of vertebrate pollinators threatened with extinction.
“France is one of the countries that has taken the lead in using the evidence that IPBES has collected to help drive national action to protect biodiversity,” said Dr. Anne Larigauderie, the Executive Secretary of IPBES, referring to the French National Pollinator Action Plan. “Country-level strategies that engage government, the private sector and communities use the tools that science provides to ensure the future we want – for our people and the planet.” Minister Royal was joined by leaders from the French agricultural sector, conservationists, economists, businesspeople and local authorities who each provided concrete examples of the solutions they have forged as part of the action plan to protect pollination services across the country in a compilation gathered by the French Foundation on Research on Biodiversity. “IPBES also identifies policies, tools and approaches that work – to promote their use in similar contexts” said Dr. Larigauderie. “Solutions being found in France, for instance, might well have value in Kenya, or Myanmar or Chile. Innovations being tested in Brazil could work in Canada, Nepal or South Africa. This is why it is so important for policy to be informed by the best available science – and why collaboration on biodiversity must reach across borders and disciplinary boundaries.”
National strategies and action plans on pollination will also be a key focus on an event being held by IPBES in Mexico on 6 December as part of the 13th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).