1 in 3 bees, butterflies and hoverflies are disappearing. Can a new EU deal save our pollinators?

Announced on Tuesday, the Commission’s new deal builds on a 2018 initiative and sets out a seven-year plan to get imperilled insects back on track by 2030.

This starts with increased monitoring of pollinators across the 27 member states, and better conservation practices. The Commission says it will work with countries to prepare a blueprint for a network of ecological corridors, so-called ‘buzz lines’.

Restoring habitats in agricultural landscapes – with more support for ‘pollinator-friendly’ farming – and enhancing green spaces in cities are two planks of this plan.

What about pesticides?

Pesticides are a major threat to pollinating species. The deal recommends tightening up the laws on ‘integrated pest management’, adding tests to determine the toxicity of the chemicals, and reducing their use.

The bloc is already clamping down on the over-use of pesticides and ‘emergency authorisations’. France, for example, has dropped plans to allow sugar beet growers to deploy a pesticide banned over risks to bees after a European Union court rejected such an exemption.

And the EU has restricted the use of three neonicotinoid pesticides that pose a high risk to bees.

This new deal is in line with the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted at COP15 in December, which includes a global target to reduce the risk from pesticides by at least 50 per cent by 2030.

But environmentalists say the current EU rules don’t go far enough. A million signatory-strong petition delivered to the European Parliament yesterday calls for legal acts to phase out synthetic pesticides by 2035.