POLLINATORS POLLINATION AND FOOD PRODUCTION

THE ASSESSMENT REPORT ON POLLINATORS, POLLINATION AND FOOD PRODUCTION
366
6. RESPONSES TO RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES ASSOCIATED
WITH POLLINATORS AND POLLINATION
infrastructure. These strategies concurrently address
several important drivers of pollinator decline by mitigating
against impacts of land use change, pesticide use and
climate change. The policies and practices that form these
strategies have direct economic benefits to people and
livelihoods in many cases (established but incomplete).
This is in contrast to some of the options for managing
immediate risks, such as developing crop varieties not
dependent on pollination, which may increase vulnerability to
pests and pathogens due to reduced crop genetic diversity
(inconclusive) (6.2.2, 6.9, 6.4.1.1.8, 6.4.1.1.12, 6.4.2.1.2,
6.4.4.1, 6.4.4.3, 6.9).
Strategies to adapt to climate change may be
necessary to secure pollination for agriculture in the
long term (established but incomplete), although the
impacts of ongoing climate change on pollinators
and pollination services and agriculture may not
be fully apparent for several decades owing to
delayed response times in ecological systems (well
established). Adaptative responses to climate change
include increasing crop diversity and regional farm diversity,
and targeted habitat conservation, management and
restoration. The effectiveness of these strategies at securing
pollination under climate change is untested and likely to
vary significantly between and within regions (inconclusive)
(6.4.1.1.12, 6.4.3.1.2, 6.4.4.1.5, 6.5.1.10.2, 6.8.1).
Non-agricultural lands, both urban and rural, hold
large potential for supporting pollinators, if managed
appropriately. Increasing the abundance of nectar and
pollen-providing flowering plants in urban or peri-urban
green spaces such as parks, sport fields, gardens, and golf
courses increases local pollinator diversity and abundance
(established but incomplete). Many cities actively conserve
and restore natural habitat for pollinators in such spaces.
Other land uses including road verges, power line corridors,
railway banks, and vacant land in cities hold large potential
for supporting pollinators, if managed appropriately to
provide flowering and nesting resources (inconclusive).
This has been implemented in some areas, such as parts
of the United States. A few studies demonstrate increased
pollinator numbers on the managed areas, and one study
found road verges help maintain genetic connectivity in a
bird-pollinated plant (established but incomplete). There are
possible negative impacts from pollinators feeding on road
verges, such as metal contamination, which have not been
fully explored (established but incomplete) (6.4.5.1).
Reducing risk by decreasing the use of pesticides
is a central part of Integrated Pest Management
(IPM) and National Risk Reduction programs
promoted around the world. Many of the practices
that comprise IPM, such as mixed cropping and
field margin management, have co-benefits for
pollinators (well established). Education and training
for land managers, farm advisers, pesticide appliers and
the public are necessary for the effective implementation of
IPM, and to ensure correct and safe use of pesticides, in
agricultural, municipal and domestic settings (established
but incomplete). Exposure of pollinators to pesticides can
also be reduced by a range of specific application practices,
including technologies to reduce pesticide drift (well
established) (6.4.1.1, 6.4.2.1.3, 6.4.2.4.2).
Risk assessment can be an effective tool for
defining pollinator-safe uses of pesticides, and
subsequent use regulations (including labelling) are
important steps towards avoiding mis-use of specific
pesticides that can harm pollinating insects (well
established). Overall, the environmental hazard from
pesticides used in agriculture is decreased at national
level by risk assessment and use regulations (established
but incomplete). Other policy strategies that can help to
reduce pesticide use, or avoid mis-use, are supporting
farmer field schools, which are known to increase adoption
of IPM practices as well as agricultural production and
farmer incomes (well established), and applying global
codes of conduct (inconclusive). The International Code
of Conduct on Pesticide Management of the Food and
Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization
of the United Nations provides a set of voluntary actions
for Government and industry to reduce risks for human
health and environment; sixty-one per cent of countries
surveyed (31 countries) are using the code, based on a
survey from 2004 and 2005. Investment in independent
ecological research on population-level effects of pesticides
on pollinators in real agricultural landscapes would help
resolve the uncertainties surrounding the risk of pesticides
to pollinators and pollination. Risk assessments required
for approval of genetically modified organism (GMO) crops
in most countries do not adequately address the direct
sublethal effects of insect-resistant (IR) crops or the indirect
effects of herbicide-tolerant (HT) and insect-resistant
(IR) crops, partly because of a lack of data. Extending
monitoring and risk-indication of the environmental and
biodiversity impacts of pesticides and GMOs specifically to
include wild and managed pollinators (monitoring schemes
exist in many countries) would improve understanding of
the scale of the risks (established but incomplete) (6.4.1.5,
6.4.2.1, 6.4.2.4.1, 6.4.2.4.2, 6.4.2.2.6, 6.4.2.6.1, 6.4.2.6.2).
Preventing new invasions of species that harm
pollinators (i.e., competitors, diseases, predators) and
mitigating impact of established invaders can be more
effective than attempting eradication (established but
incomplete). There is case-study evidence of benefits to
pollinator species or pollination of native plants from efforts
to reduce numbers of invasive insect species in Japan
and Hawaii (6.4.3.1.4).