14 December 2017 Pollinator Initiatives in EU Member States: Success Factors and Gaps By: Evelyn Underwood Gemma Darwin Erik Gerritsen Funded by Report under contract for provision of technical support related to Target 2 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 – maintaining and restoring ecosystems and their services in collaboration with Disclaimer: It should be noted that this report does not represent the views of the Commission or of the interviewed stakeholders, and the key successes and gaps were identified by the authors unless attributed. The authors acknowledge that the work was funded by the European Commission. The report should be cited as follows: Underwood, E., Darwin, G. and Gerritsen, E. (2017) Pollinator initiatives in EU Member States: Success factors and gaps. Report for European Commission under contract for provision of technical support related to Target 2 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 – maintaining and restoring ecosystems and their services ENV.B.2/SER/2016/0018. Institute for European Environmental Policy, Brussels. Corresponding author: Evelyn Underwood, IEEP [email protected] Acknowledgements: We thank the stakeholders in each Member State who responded to the requests for information. Institute for European Environmental Policy London Office 11 Belgrave Road IEEP Offices, Floor 3 London, SW1V 1RB Tel: +44 (0) 20 7799 2244 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7799 2600 Brussels Office Quai au Foin, 55 Hooikaai 55 B- 1000 Brussels Tel: +32 (0) 2738 7482 Fax: +32 (0) 2732 4004 The Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) is an independent not-for-profit institute. IEEP undertakes work for external sponsors in a range of policy areas as well as engaging in our own research programmes. 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Table Of Contents Table Of Contents ............................................................................................................. 3 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 2 Pollinator initiatives: successes and gaps ................................................................... 3 3 Austria .................................................................................................................... 12 4 Belgium .................................................................................................................. 17 5 Denmark ................................................................................................................. 21 6 France ..................................................................................................................... 24 7 Germany ................................................................................................................. 29 8 Ireland and UK Northern Ireland ............................................................................. 33 9 The Netherlands ..................................................................................................... 38 10 Slovenia .................................................................................................................. 43 11 Spain ...................................................................................................................... 45 12 UK .......................................................................................................................... 49 13 UK – England ........................................................................................................... 52 14 UK – Wales ............................................................................................................. 56 15 UK – Scotland .......................................................................................................... 59 References ..................................................................................................................... 62 Annex: Swedish wild bee species action plans ................................................................. 67 1 Introduction Pollinators, which are economically, ecologically and socially important, are increasingly under threat from human activities, including climate change and habitat loss, as concluded by the global assessment of the International Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in 2016 (IPBES, 2016). The assessment highlights that a high diversity of wild pollinators (wild bees, hoverflies and other flies, butterflies and moths, and more) is critical to pollination even when managed bees are present in high numbers. The European Red List of Bees published in 2014 concluded that at the EU-27 level, 9.1% of bee species are threatened with extinction and a further 5.4% of bees are considered Near Threatened, whilst for 55.6% of species we do not know their EU status at all (Nieto et al, 2014). At the COP13 on Biological Diversity in December 2016, Decision XIII/151 was passed encouraging Parties, other organisations and stakeholders to use the IPBES recommendations to help guide their efforts to improve conservation and management of pollinators, address drivers of pollinator declines, and work towards sustainable food production systems and agriculture. At the CBD COP13, representatives of ten EU Member States and other countries signed the Declaration on the Coalition of the Willing on Pollinators2, committing to take national action to protect pollinators and their habitats, and to develop, facilitate and implement pollinator strategies, consistent with the IPBES Assessment. Rural Development Programmes under the Common Agricultural Policy provide some funding for farmers to carry out farming with reduced or no pesticide use or to preserve or create flower rich areas or habitats providing food resources for wild pollinators. Other initiatives at the EU level are already promoting joint action, knowledge sharing and awareness-raising on pollinators. However, the COP13 Decision and the European Parliament resolution on the Action Plan for Nature, People and Economy passed on 15 November 2017 (European Parliament, 2017) emphasise that stronger action is needed. The Commission have now announced the development of an EU Pollinators Initiative3. The roadmap published on 1 December 2017 presents the problem, the aim of the initiative and possible options how to achieve the aim, with the objectives of improving knowledge on pollinators, tackling the causes of the decline of pollinators, and raising awareness and improving collaboration and knowledge sharing. Aim of the report Here we report on current national and regional initiatives in ten EU Member States as of October 2017, outlining strategies, successes and gaps. Our aim is to provide useful information for the development of an EU initiative on pollinators and to inform stakeholders about current initiatives and sources of further information. The report focuses 1 https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-13/cop-13-dec-15-en.pdf 2 Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Spain, the Netherlands, UK, see https://promotepollinators.org 3 See http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/conservation/species/pollinators/index_en.htm 1 on most of the Member States in the Coalition of the Willing (although no information was available from Finland and Luxembourg), plus Ireland who also have a pollinator strategy in place. It should be noted that this report does not represent the views of the Commission or of the interviewed stakeholders, and the key successes and gaps were identified by the authors unless attributed. 2 2 Pollinator initiatives: successes and gaps This section seeks to highlight commonalities among existing national and regional initiatives that are benefiting wild pollinators in order to point to what could be amplified or scaled up at the EU level, identify remaining gaps, and assess what added value EU level coordination could bring. A number of initiatives have already carried out similar and more wide ranging exercises and discussions, which we have drawn on, notably: overview of strategic responses to risks and opportunities associated with pollinators and pollination provided by the recent IPBES assessment, based on their evidence review (IPBES, 2016); policy workshop on 3 March 2015 by SUPER-B COST action project4; reports by the EU-funded STEP project (2010-2015)5; high priority knowledge needs with regard to wild pollinators identified by an EU expert group in the UK (Dicks et al, 2013); UK Insect Pollinators Initiative (Vanbergen et al, 2014; Vanbergen and Insect Pollinators Initiative, 2013). 2.1 Governance of initiatives and targeted funding There are at least six national or regional strategies or action plans addressing wild pollinator conservation in EU Member States and a number of others are preparing strategies or action plans, as listed in Table 2.1. Some, but not all, the strategies are associated with some dedicated government funding. The Dutch government is providing political leadership by convening the Coalition of the Willing on Pollinators, which is bringing together representatives of Member State governments which either already have or are in the process of developing national pollinator strategies. Table 2.1: current situation of pollinator initiatives in selected EU Member States Member State Pollinator initiative or strategy, launch year Significant funding or national resources / region and focus Austria No national or regional strategies