Bijensterfte, oorzaken en gevolgen

A new paper in Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability reports that the Earth’s entomofauna seems in an ongoing state of collapse. Insect decline could pose a global risk to key insect-mediated ecosystem functions and services such as soil and freshwater functions (nutrient cycling, soil formation, decomposition, and water purification), biological pest control, pollination services and food web support that all are critical to ecosystem functioning, human health and human survival.

At present the attention for insect decline is low in all domains, ranging from scientific research to policy-making to nature conservation. Scientists made urgent calls to prioritise insect conservation. An international treaty for global pollinator stewardship and pollinator ecosystem restoration is urgently needed to counteract the current crisis.

A review of insect pollinator conservation policies found that despite scientific calls and public outcry to develop polices that addresses declines, governments have not delivered such legislation, nor have they met basic monitoring needs recommended by experts.

Heldere uitleg van de stand van kennis over het vraagstuk van bijensterfte en neonicotinoiden in een Studium Generale college van 90 minuten door Prof. dr. Jeroen P. van der Sluijs.

The Task Force on Systemic Pesticides — an international group of independent scientists convened by the International
Union for Conservation of Nature — produced the world’s first comprehensive scientific assessment of the ecological effects of neonicotinoids in 2015. This landmark review, which considered more than 1,100 peer-reviewed studies, as well as data from manufacturers, identified clear evidence of harm to honeybees as well as to a large number of other beneficial species, including aquatic insects at the base of the food chain, soil arthropods such as earthworms, and common birds (by cascade effects).
In 2017, the Task Force updated its assessment to take into account hundreds of new peer-reviewed studies (published since 2014) on systemic insecticides in the environment and their ecological effects. The new assessment reveals broader impacts that reinforce the conclusions of the original 2015 review: neonics and fipronil represent a major worldwide threat to biodiversity and ecosystems/ecosystem services.
The 2017 update is now published in the scientific journal Environmental Science and Pollution Research in 3 parts.

Summary: Highlights from the 2017 update to the Worldwide Integrated Assessment of the effects of systemic pesticides on biodiversity and ecosystems

Part I Part 1: new molecules, metabolism, fate, and transport

Part 2 Part 2: impacts on organisms and ecosystems

Part 3 Part 3: alternatives to systemic insecticides

Part 4 An update of the Worldwide Integrated Assessment (WIA) on systemic pesticides. Part 4: Alternatives in major cropping systems

Over the past decades, both wild and domesticated insect pollinators are in dramatic decline, which puts at stake the existence of species, ecosystem resilience and global food security. Globally, 87 of major food crops depend on animal pollination. Together these account for 35 % of the world food production volume. Pollinator mediated crops are indispensable for essential micronutrients in the human diet. Many ornamental plants as well as crops for fibre, fodder, biofuels, timber and phytopharmaceuticals also depend on insect pollinators. This article aims to map the current situation of pollinators worldwide, with a focus on the critical role of pollinators in the human food chain and ecosystem sustainability, their intrinsic and extrinsic value, as well as the causes of their declines and the interventions needed to conserve them, in order to develop an argument for the importance of conserving and restoring pollinator populations and diversity. The present pollinator crisis threatens global and local food security, can worsen the problems of hidden hunger, erodes ecosystem resilience, and can destabilise ecosystems that form our life support system. An integrated approach that simultaneously addresses the key drivers is needed. This includes creation and restoration of floral and nesting resources, a global phase out of prophylactic use of neonicotinoids and fipronil, improvement of test protocols in authorisation of agrochemicals, and restoration and maintenance of independence in regulatory science. The authors argue that an international treaty for global pollinator stewardship and pollinator ecosystem restoration should be initiated in order to systemically counteract the current crisis.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41055-016-0003-z