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<DIV><SPAN class=artTitle><SPAN class=artTitle>World relies on endangered bees
for 153 billion euros</SPAN>
<HR width="100%" noShade SIZE=1>
<TABLE class=recLevel cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD align=left><SPAN class=date>2009-11-18</SPAN></TD>
<TD align=right>
<P><A href="mailto:elisabeth.schmid@youris.com">Elisabeth
Schmid<BR>youris.com</A><BR></P></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD align=right colSpan=2>Via Dogana 3 <BR>20123 Milano <BR>ITALY <BR><A
href="mailto:elisabeth.schmid@youris.com">elisabeth.schmid@youris.com</A>
<BR>Tel: +39 0286489285 <BR>Fax: + 39 02809250 <BR><A
href="http://www.youris.com/" target=_blank>http://www.youris.com</A>
</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD align=left colSpan=2><BR>Precious insect pollinators hold an almighty
153 billion euros worldwide on their industrious wings for the main crops
that feed the planet every year. If they all disappeared overnight, so
would 9.5% of the total value of global agriculture production used for
human food </TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD align=left colSpan=2>
<HR width="100%" noShade SIZE=1>
</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD align=left colSpan=2>Although bees are nowhere near becoming extinct
any time altogether soon, as some media may have somewhat inaccurately
prophesised, the sharp decline in their biodiversity is nevertheless
deeply worrying. With its 14.2 billion euros tied to insect pollination
per year, the EU looks highly vulnerable, even if East Asia is most at
risk with an eye-watering 51.5 billion euros. The USA, Canada and Bermuda
figure resembles that of the EU most closely, with a combined insect
pollination value of 14.4 billion euros. But Europe must beware even more,
if you think that non-EU countries rely on insect pollination for a
further total of 7.8 billion euros. <BR><BR>Middle East Asia, Central
Asia, East Asia, North Africa and West Africa stand out on the high
vulnerability list, as it appears from a study about the potential
economic impact of insect pollinator decline, which is about to be
published in the January issue of “Ecological Economics” journal. One of
the authors of the research, Dr Josef Settele from the Helmholtz Center
for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Halle, Germany, is also the
coordinator of the ALARM project (www.alarmproject.net) which aims at
outlining the most urgent countermeasures to map and stem pollinator
decline. <BR><BR>“This is an analysis on a global scale, relating to the
year 2005”, Dr Settele says. Assuming all insect pollinators are lost, the
researchers have also calculated the money that would be needed to be
spent to replace them. “We reckon that, in order to replace this service
by other means, such as artificial pollination which is much more
expensive and difficult, the world would need to spend between 190 and 310
billion euros”, Dr Settele warns. Of course, the price of produce would
increase dramatically as a consequence. <BR><BR>The study, called
“Economic valuation of the vulnerability of world agriculture confronted
with pollinator decline”, has used FAO statistics for its economics. It
also confirms that the production of 84% of crop species cultivated in
Europe depend directly on insect pollinators. <BR><BR>Fruits and
vegetables turn out to be especially affected, with a loss estimated at 50
billion euros each, followed by edible oilseed crops with 39 billion
euros. Scientists also found that the average value of crops that depend
on insect pollinators for their production was on average much higher than
that of the crops not pollinated by insects, such as cereals or sugar
cane. <BR><BR>As far as the yearly rate of the bee loss goes, Dr Settele
thinks it is impossible to quantify it with current means. Yet the trend,
he says, is “extremely worrying because we could be about to lose the vast
majority of the most specialized pollinator species across Europe”.
Mainly, we are talking about bees here, followed by hover flies,
butterflies and moths. <BR><BR>The point is, our understanding of why many
bee species are in danger is still patchy, explains Dr Simon Potts, a
Principal Research Fellow from the University of Reading, UK, who is also
a scientific adviser of a new project launched outside Europe by the
Global Environment Facility (GEF) together with the UN Environment
Programme (UNEP) to better protect pollinating bees, bats and birds in
Brazil, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan and South Africa.
<BR><BR>“It’s quite shocking to see that in most countries a large
proportion of our bee species is under severe threat”, Dr Potts says. “a
10% loss in bees is not an unrealistic future prospect for Europe; and a
10% loss of insect pollination could have huge economic consequences and
also negative impacts on the pollination of the wide variety of wild
flowering plants. There are 2,250 bee species in Europe, and many more in
the tropics, but the general principles of pollinator conservation here in
Europe can also be transferred to the tropics. If you grow coffee in areas
where there are fragments of forest, you get better quality coffee and a
better yield, because there are more pollinators. In the GEF project we
try and work with farmers to get them to see the economic value of that.
We have demonstration farms for this purpose”. <BR><BR>Dr Potts, together
with his close collaborator Stuart Roberts, aim to put together a European
bee red list, although, there is still quite a long way to go to assemble
it properly. In Germany, for instance, “there are 560 bee species and 289
of them are on the red list”, Mr Roberts says. “In Switzerland, 42% of
species are in danger. In Finland the percentage is 45%, whereas in the
Netherlands 54% of all bee species are under threat.” <BR><BR>All in all,
9 European countries have so far provided their own full assessment, and
on this basis the average number of species under threat, Mr Roberts
concludes, “is just under 45%. Loss of habitat is believed to be the
biggest driver everywhere”. If any future mapping of world bees reveals
even higher losses, there is going to be some very hard thinking to be
done. Hopefully, this may happen well before we all have to recur to some
horrendously expensive and laborious artificial pollination systems.</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD align=left colSpan=2>
<HR width="100%" noShade SIZE=1>
</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD align=left colSpan=2><SPAN class=b>Notes to editor:</SPAN>
<P><A href="http://www.youris.com/Environment/Bees"
target=_blank>http://www.youris.com/Environment/Bees</A></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>World
relies on endangered bees for 153 billion euros</SPAN>
<HR width="100%" noShade SIZE=1>
<TABLE class=recLevel cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD align=left><SPAN class=date>2009-11-18</SPAN></TD>
<TD align=right>
<P><A href="mailto:elisabeth.schmid@youris.com">Elisabeth
Schmid<BR>youris.com</A><BR></P></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD align=right colSpan=2>Via Dogana 3 <BR>20123 Milano <BR>ITALY <BR><A
href="mailto:elisabeth.schmid@youris.com">elisabeth.schmid@youris.com</A>
<BR>Tel: +39 0286489285 <BR>Fax: + 39 02809250 <BR><A
href="http://www.youris.com/" target=_blank>http://www.youris.com</A>
</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD align=left colSpan=2><BR>Precious insect pollinators hold an almighty
153 billion euros worldwide on their industrious wings for the main crops
that feed the planet every year. If they all disappeared overnight, so
would 9.5% of the total value of global agriculture production used for
human food </TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD align=left colSpan=2>
<HR width="100%" noShade SIZE=1>
</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD align=left colSpan=2>Although bees are nowhere near becoming extinct
any time altogether soon, as some media may have somewhat inaccurately
prophesised, the sharp decline in their biodiversity is nevertheless
deeply worrying. With its 14.2 billion euros tied to insect pollination
per year, the EU looks highly vulnerable, even if East Asia is most at
risk with an eye-watering 51.5 billion euros. The USA, Canada and Bermuda
figure resembles that of the EU most closely, with a combined insect
pollination value of 14.4 billion euros. But Europe must beware even more,
if you think that non-EU countries rely on insect pollination for a
further total of 7.8 billion euros. <BR><BR>Middle East Asia, Central
Asia, East Asia, North Africa and West Africa stand out on the high
vulnerability list, as it appears from a study about the potential
economic impact of insect pollinator decline, which is about to be
published in the January issue of “Ecological Economics” journal. One of
the authors of the research, Dr Josef Settele from the Helmholtz Center
for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Halle, Germany, is also the
coordinator of the ALARM project (www.alarmproject.net) which aims at
outlining the most urgent countermeasures to map and stem pollinator
decline. <BR><BR>“This is an analysis on a global scale, relating to the
year 2005”, Dr Settele says. Assuming all insect pollinators are lost, the
researchers have also calculated the money that would be needed to be
spent to replace them. “We reckon that, in order to replace this service
by other means, such as artificial pollination which is much more
expensive and difficult, the world would need to spend between 190 and 310
billion euros”, Dr Settele warns. Of course, the price of produce would
increase dramatically as a consequence. <BR><BR>The study, called
“Economic valuation of the vulnerability of world agriculture confronted
with pollinator decline”, has used FAO statistics for its economics. It
also confirms that the production of 84% of crop species cultivated in
Europe depend directly on insect pollinators. <BR><BR>Fruits and
vegetables turn out to be especially affected, with a loss estimated at 50
billion euros each, followed by edible oilseed crops with 39 billion
euros. Scientists also found that the average value of crops that depend
on insect pollinators for their production was on average much higher than
that of the crops not pollinated by insects, such as cereals or sugar
cane. <BR><BR>As far as the yearly rate of the bee loss goes, Dr Settele
thinks it is impossible to quantify it with current means. Yet the trend,
he says, is “extremely worrying because we could be about to lose the vast
majority of the most specialized pollinator species across Europe”.
Mainly, we are talking about bees here, followed by hover flies,
butterflies and moths. <BR><BR>The point is, our understanding of why many
bee species are in danger is still patchy, explains Dr Simon Potts, a
Principal Research Fellow from the University of Reading, UK, who is also
a scientific adviser of a new project launched outside Europe by the
Global Environment Facility (GEF) together with the UN Environment
Programme (UNEP) to better protect pollinating bees, bats and birds in
Brazil, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan and South Africa.
<BR><BR>“It’s quite shocking to see that in most countries a large
proportion of our bee species is under severe threat”, Dr Potts says. “a
10% loss in bees is not an unrealistic future prospect for Europe; and a
10% loss of insect pollination could have huge economic consequences and
also negative impacts on the pollination of the wide variety of wild
flowering plants. There are 2,250 bee species in Europe, and many more in
the tropics, but the general principles of pollinator conservation here in
Europe can also be transferred to the tropics. If you grow coffee in areas
where there are fragments of forest, you get better quality coffee and a
better yield, because there are more pollinators. In the GEF project we
try and work with farmers to get them to see the economic value of that.
We have demonstration farms for this purpose”. <BR><BR>Dr Potts, together
with his close collaborator Stuart Roberts, aim to put together a European
bee red list, although, there is still quite a long way to go to assemble
it properly. In Germany, for instance, “there are 560 bee species and 289
of them are on the red list”, Mr Roberts says. “In Switzerland, 42% of
species are in danger. In Finland the percentage is 45%, whereas in the
Netherlands 54% of all bee species are under threat.” <BR><BR>All in all,
9 European countries have so far provided their own full assessment, and
on this basis the average number of species under threat, Mr Roberts
concludes, “is just under 45%. Loss of habitat is believed to be the
biggest driver everywhere”. If any future mapping of world bees reveals
even higher losses, there is going to be some very hard thinking to be
done. Hopefully, this may happen well before we all have to recur to some
horrendously expensive and laborious artificial pollination systems.</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD align=left colSpan=2>
<HR width="100%" noShade SIZE=1>
</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD align=left colSpan=2><SPAN class=b>Notes to editor:</SPAN>
<P><A href="http://www.youris.com/Environment/Bees"
target=_blank>http://www.youris.com/Environment/Bees</A></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face="Gill Sans MT" size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>Laurie Davies Adams<BR>Executive
Director<BR><B>Pollinator Partnership </B><BR>423 Washington Street, 5th
floor<BR>San Francisco, CA
94111<BR>415-362-1137<BR>LDA@pollinator.org</FONT><FONT lang=0 face=Arial
color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#0000ff size=4 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="14"><B><A
href="http://www.pollinator.org/">www.pollinator.org</A></B></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"></B><BR><A
href="http://www.nappc.org/">www.nappc.org</A><BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#000000 size=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="12"><B><I>National Pollinator Week is June 21-27, 2010. <BR>Beecome
involved at <A
href="http://www.pollinator.org/">www.pollinator.org</A></I></FONT></B></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>