With the first day of spring, the European Commission is launching a major communication effort to raise awareness about the decline of wild pollinators, showing how their disappearance would impact our lives, and what everybody can do to help. Raising awareness and engaging society on this issue is part of the first EU Pollinators Initiative adopted in June 2018, which aims to address the decline of wild pollinators in a more targeted and coordinated way across different sectors and policies.

EU Commissioner for Environment, Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Karmenu Vella said: “Our quality of life – and our future – depends on the many services that nature provides for free. Pollination is one of these invisible, but invaluable services, so it is very worrying to learn that some of our top pollinators are at high risk! If we don’t address the reasons behind the decline in wild pollinators, and act urgently to stop it, we and our future generations will pay a very heavy price indeed.”

The communication activities will run in the next two years, creating opportunities for public authorities, researchers, farmers, businesses, and individual citizens to engage in the protection of pollinators.