Caring for Pollinators - Bundesamt für Naturschutz

Ruggiero, Adams, Saraiva North and Inter American Pollinator Initiatives
Capacity building involves promoting awareness of pollinators and pollination as well as
developing information networks. NAPPC has developed a wide variety of information
materials to educate the public about pollinators. A particularly significant activity was
working with the United States Postal Service to create a special set of stamps about
pollinators. NAPPC and partners have also developed several websites for pollinator
information including www.pollinator.org, www.nappc.org, and http://pollinators.nbii.gov. The
IABIN Pollinators Thematic Network is building a distributed data and information network
that will provide content in the following areas: pollinator checklists, experts, specimens and
observations, pollinator-plant-relationships, and literature. This information can be accessed
at http://pollinators.iabin.net and http://pollinators.incubadora.fapesp.br.
Mainstreaming requires the incorporation of pollinator conservation practices into broader
societal programs. NAPPC has supported the inclusion of pollinator conservation measures
into national agricultural legislation (the Farm Bill) in the United States and has prepared a
report on laws affecting pollinators in Canada. The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture issued a
proclamation establishing National Pollinators Week and federal land management agencies
have signed agreements with NAPPC to protect pollinators on more than 1.5 billion acres of
federal and public lands in the United States.
The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign and the IABIN Pollinators Thematic
Network have provided rallying points for carrying out activities relevant to the International
Pollinators Initiative. NAPPC is largely a human network and IABIN PTN is largely a digital
network. Both types are necessary for supporting and communicating the broad regional
programs needed to conserve pollinators and their habitats and to prevent their further
decline.
Authors' addresses:
Dr. Michael Ruggiero, Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), Smithsonian Institution, P.O.
Box 37012, NMNH, Room CE-120, MRC – 0180, Washington, DC 20013-7012
e-mail: RUGGIERM@si.edu
Laurie Adams, Pollinator Partnership, USA
Antonio Saraiva, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
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