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--></style></head><body lang="EN-US" link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Much conservation work is in reaction to change or impacts, mitigation after the event. A new paper has been published in the journal PeerJ today that is hoping to change the situation for pollinators by looking ahead to identify major threats and opportunities for proactive prevention. As the lead author, Professor Mark Brown from Royal Holloway University of London, noted, “We are increasingly adopting practices that damage these species. Then, we rather absurdly look to mitigate their loss, rather than prevent it in the first place.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The article, “A horizon scan of future threats and opportunities for pollinators and pollination,” is freely available at <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/2249/" target="_blank">https://peerj.com/articles/2249/</a>.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The press release from Royal Holloway University is below.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Matthew </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">*********************</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:16.0pt">Big agriculture has the chance to help or hinder our most important pollinators, research argues</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">• New research identifies future threats to, and opportunities for insects, birds, mammals, and reptiles that pollinate wild flowers and crops</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">• 35% of global crop production, and 85% of wild flowering plants rely on hard-working pollinators to thrive</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">• Researchers calling for proactive prevention not reactive mitigation, and continuation of positive steps to reduce chemical use across landscapes</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">New research published today in PeerJ has identified the most serious future threats to, but also opportunities for pollinating species, which provide essential agricultural and ecological services across the globe. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">From the expansion of corporate agriculture, new classes of insecticides and emerging viruses, pollinators are facing changing and increasingly challenging risks. In response, researchers are calling for global policies of proactive prevention, rather than reactive mitigation to ensure the future of these vital species.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The study was conducted by an international group of scientists, government researchers, and NGOs led by Professor Mark Brown from Royal Holloway University of London, supported by the EU-funded network SuperB. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">PREVENTION, NOT PANIC</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">They used a method of horizon scanning to identify future threats that require preventative action, and opportunities to be taken advantage of, in order to protect the insects, birds, mammals, and reptiles that pollinate wild flowers and crops. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">“35% of global crop production, and 85% of wild flowering plants rely on hard-working pollinators to thrive. We are increasingly adopting practices that damage these species. Then, we rather absurdly look to mitigate their loss, rather than prevent it in the first place,” explained Professor Brown. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">“This is an expensive and back-to-front solution for a problem that has very real consequences for our well-being,” Brown continued, “Most research focuses on the battles already being fought, not on the war to come.” </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">PRIORITY POLLINATOR CHALLENGES</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Out of a long-list of sixty risks to, and opportunities for pollinators the team identified 6 high priority issues, including:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">1) Corporate control of agriculture at the global scale</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">2) Sulfoximine, a novel systemic class of insecticides</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">3) New emerging viruses </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">4) Increased diversity of managed pollinator species </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">5) Effects of extreme weather under climate change</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">6) Reductions in chemical use in non-agricultural settings</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The research highlights consolidation of the agri-food industries as a major potential threat to pollinators, with a small numbers of companies now having unprecedented control of land. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The rise in transnational land deals for crop production, for example the use of large areas of Brazil for soybean export to China, now occupies over 40 million hectares. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">“The homogenization of agriculture effectively means that corporations are applying blanket production systems to landscapes that are vastly different, significantly reducing the diversity and number of native pollinators,” explained Sarina Jepsen, Director of Endangered Species and Aquatic Programs, The Xerces Society and Deputy Chair, IUCN Bumblebee Specialist Group.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">POSITIVES ON THE HORIZON</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Professor Brown continued, “However, it is not all doom and gloom. For example, such global domination provides an opportunity to influence land-management to make it favourable for pollinators at huge scales, but this would require the agri-food industry to work closely together with NGOs and researchers.” </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Speaking about the influence of new insecticides, co-author, Lynn Dicks from the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge said, "Identifying environmental issues in advance, before they become large scale, allows society to plan responses and reduce environmental risks before they are upon us. It is a routine part of strategic planning in financial management, and it should also be routine in environmental planning and policymaking. Many of the pollinator issues we identified on the horizon can be responded to right now, for example by working with corporations already controlling large areas of agricultural land to develop pollinator management strategies, or by planning research on the sub-lethal effects of sulfoxaflor before it is widely used." </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">However the study also found more explicitly positive opportunities for pollinators. For example, the current and future reduction of chemical use in non-agricultural land, gardens and parks, could be fruitful for pollinating populations.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">“We must continue to encourage these practices across industry, government, and the public, so that we give our important pollinating species the support they need to do their vital work,” concluded Professor Brown.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">----------</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Matthew Shepherd</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Communications Director</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><img border="0" width="128" height="48" style="width:1.3333in;height:.5in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image003.jpg@01D1F20F.0DBC98F0" alt="Xerces-logo-CMYK-email_Outlook"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Protecting the Life That Sustains Us</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Connect: <a href="http://www.xerces.org/">www.xerces.org</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/xerces.society/">Facebook</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/xercessociety">Twitter</a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/xercessociety/?hl=en">Instagram</a> <a href="http://www.xerces.org/blog/">Blog</a> <a href="https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001HTk7N6nZumLPinBr8VACbNdTXCe732bGu6KpqC13JAKPti_HBe5xyr7t0p4mDfKe2dOsd-TB1qvv772s6GQfVa_SbKKfwBiwl4blH4KvCjq4dpmA2M9UNZ2axlQwu_1Gvjrl2Rb53WUZwsddwCzyorgxedLAaMy3">E-newsletter</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">628 NE Broadway, Suite 200, Portland, OR 97232, USA</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Office: (503) 232-6639 x110</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Cell: (503) 807-1577</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><a href="mailto:matthew.shepherd@xerces.org">matthew.shepherd@xerces.org</a> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div></body></html>