POLLINATORS POLLINATION AND FOOD PRODUCTION

THE ASSESSMENT REPORT ON POLLINATORS, POLLINATION AND FOOD PRODUCTION
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6. RESPONSES TO RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES ASSOCIATED
WITH POLLINATORS AND POLLINATION
deal with global warming requires substantial additional
research, especially in the tropics.
Interdisciplinary research that combines ecological,
economic, social and psychological research to elucidate
the processes underlying successful agri-environmental
policies is greatly needed around the world.
Finally, transdisciplinary work is essential to implement
pollinator-supporting practices in real-world landscapes
and support long-term yields of pollinator-dependent crops
(Garibaldi et al., 2014). Developing farmer-researcher
platforms or networks, helping researchers to interact with
farmers and understand farmer problems, and assisting
researchers to work within the complexity of on-farm
research (e.g. http://aeix3dev.devcloud.acquia-sites.com),
are key ways of finding practical answers in a context that
involves the participation of farmers.
6.8.2 Pesticides, pollutants and
genetically modified organisms
Research is needed for more accurate predictions of
exposure and risks, to inform approaches to reduce the
exposure of pollinators to pesticides, and to help determine
the impacts of pesticides on pollinators.
Risk assessment tools will need to be further developed
and implemented. Impacts assessments need to address
adverse sublethal effects and risks to wild bees. For instance,
a risk assessment based on a literature review identified lack
of exposure and toxicological information for pollinators other
than the honey bee as the primary area of uncertainty (Cutler
et al., 2014b). Knowledge gaps include mitigation of negative
impacts of pesticides on pollination (Nienstedt et al., 2012),
on actual population trends and dynamics of pollinators, and
of combined effects of multiple environmental pressures and
pesticides, or mixes of pesticides and other pollutants on
pollinators (Gonzaléz-Varo et al., 2013).
A development of specific risk indicators from exposure
of pesticides to pollinators would be useful for evaluating
possible impacts on pollinators of risk reduction programmes.
Higher-tier registration studies are costly to perform and
process, and it is not necessary to repeat them in each
country. Sharing information among countries can help
raise and harmonise registration standards globally.
Making registration studies available globally needs to be
accompanied by raising the skills to interpret the studies
and distinguish which studies may not be necessary to
conduct locally.
There is no global overview of pesticides regulation among
countries. Efforts to reduce risks need to be directed to
regions and crops in which pollinators and pollination are
most probably at the highest risk. Schreinemachers et al.
(2012) give a nice overview of the pesticide use in the world
related to economy type; it is highest in middle income
economies. Most crop pollination values are generated in
Asia while 58%, 8% and 10% are generated in Africa, and
South and Central America, respectively (Gallai, 2009) where
pesticide use is also high. If this information were matched
with where regulation is weak, where and in which crops
impact studies have been performed (probably mainly in field
crops in Europe, North America and Brazil), there is a high
probability to find clear mismatches and knowledge gaps.
Continual investments into agricultural research and
development of technology are needed that reduce risk
to pollinators. Research funding to develop IPM strategies
and crop production systems with no or reduced use of
pesticides, would provide options to decrease exposure
and risks to pollinators. Cost-benefit comparisons of IPM or
no-pesticide options against conventional pesticide use are
also needed. Assessing pollination dependence in flowering
crops that are now considered self-pollinated remains to
be performed for major crops. For instance, pollinators
contribute to crop yield in soy beans, but pest management
is not considering pollination in soy beans (Chiari et al.,
2005; Milfont et al., 2013).
It is clear that adverse effects for beneficial organisms such
as pollinators from exposure to pesticides can be reduced.
There are, however, few examples where the actual
effectiveness of these efforts has been estimated specifically
for pollinators.
Many pesticides are used in urban green spaces. Risk
management and risk mitigation for pollinators is poorly
developed for urban settings and amenity areas. Education
and awareness-raising targeted at gardeners and
professional managers of urban amenity areas (e.g., playing
fields and golf courses) need more attention.
There is also a lack of standardized monitoring and research
of GM-crop impacts on pollinators. Risk assessment of
GM-crops on non-target organisms needs to be developed
for bee species other than the honey bee, for GM organisms
in combination with environmental stressors, and on
populations and communities of pollinators (Arpaia et
al., 2014).
6.8.3 Nature conservation
Research is needed to understand better how the
composition and configuration of the landscape affects
plant-pollinator interactions. More studies are needed that
address the diversity of pollinators and population attributes
(e.g., density fluctuations and survival) and to evaluate