For this, the Member States have taken into account the most recent guidelines provided by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which present the general lines of a new approach to assess the consequences of pesticides on bee populations. melliferous. Under this approach, a maximum reduction of 10% in the size of hives would be established across the EU.
Ministers have reached an agreement on the need to enhance the EU’s ambition in the protection of honey bees, while ensuring that the implementation of the measures by the Member States is feasible.
Bees and pollination
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), bees pollinate 71 of the 100 species of crops that provide 90% of the world’s food. However, the number of bees has suffered a sharp drop in the last two decades. The use of pesticides has been identified as a possible factor responsible for this decline.
In this sense, the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries Council of the EU has now taken an important step to set a concrete target for the protection of honey bees. These bees are not only a crucial element of our ecosystems, they also pollinate crops and thus contribute to ensuring a sustainable future for agriculture. We trust that today’s exchange of views between ministers will lead to the introduction of measures to protect honey bee populations from the effects of pesticides throughout the European Union.
The EU and pesticides
According to European legislation, pesticides can only be used in agriculture if it is shown, through a comprehensive risk assessment, that such use will not harm human or animal health or cause unacceptable levels of damage to the environment. Current risk levels are based on the guidance document on terrestrial ecotoxicology, prepared by the European Commission in 2002.
In March 2019, the European Commission requested EFSA to undertake a review of its guidance document on bees published in 2013. In the context of this review, the majority of Member States expressed their preference for an approach towards evaluation that took into account the natural variability of honey bee hive size, and stressed that any new hive size target must be feasible to be implemented.
Qualification
The European Union agrees on a protection target for bees
Description
At its meeting on June 28 and 29, the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council, made up of the agriculture ministers of the different member states, agreed on the need to establish a specific protection objective for honey bees against Pesticides.
Author
Gastronomy Journal