Caring for Pollinators - Bundesamt für Naturschutz

Preface
Pollinators posses a key function in ecosystems and secure a substantial portion of world sustenance.
The biological diversity of pollinators is deemed to be an important foundation for the conservation
of species diversity in the international context (CBD-target stopp the loss 2010), the
European context and also in Germany. The decline in numbers of the natural pollinators has led
to the composition of the “Sao Paulo Declaration on Pollinators” for the protection and sustainable
use of pollinators 1998 in Sao Paulo within the scope of the International Pollinators Initiative and
to its signing at the COP 5. Since then the International Pollinators Initiative, under the direction of
the FAO and regional pollinators initiatives, works on safeguarding this important ecosystem service.
Besides the honeybee it is mainly numerous feral bee- and fly species that significantly secure the
pollination of our crops and of feral plants. However, many of the pollination relevant animal species
are threatened through numerous dangers, of witch habitat loss, change of land use and application
of pesticides are just a few examples. Global changes such as e.g. the warming of the
climate and its repercussions additionally accrue.
As small as they may be, pollinating insects are indispensable for the pollination of many horticultural
crops and therefore are of high economic value. About 35% of the world production of food
depend on flower visiting insects (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2008).
In addition pollinators are important for the maintenance of the biodiversity of a majority of feral
plants and for the thereon depending animals. Last not least the aesthetic and recreational value of
a blooming meadow that contains various species should be mentioned.
It is undisputable that the efforts made for the conservation of pollinators have to be continued to
counter the dangers faced and to maintain biological diversity. The side event of the Federal Nature
Conservation Agency and the University of Bonn at the ninth Conference of the Parties of the
Convention on Biological Diversity has given new proposals here and has contributed to the networking
of the Pollinators Initiatives at international level. The present volume documents the current
state of the work of the Pollinators Initiatives, gives recommendations and points out the need
for action and research. We hope to therewith give assistance and suggestions for the long term
preservation of pollinators and their ecosystem services.
Our special thanks go to the Pollinators Initiatives, the University of Bonn and to all those who
have contributed to the success of this project.
Prof. Dr. Beate Jessel
President of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Germany