The World Daily
Watchdog warns of Brussels’ failure to provide vital protection to bees, with EU’s protection laws inadequate

New evidence reveals just how persistent some neonicotinoids are in the environment, raising questions for the countries that still allow their use

 

Watchdog warns of Brussels’ failure to provide vital protection to bees, with EU’s protection laws inadequate

 

By Patryk Krych | The World Daily | JULY 11th 2020

 

A report produced from the European court of auditors has led to many revelations regarding Brussels’ failure in its strategies and overall efforts to protect its local population of bees, wasps, beetles, moths and butterflies, even finding loopholes to use banned pesticides that are harmful to the species.

Wild pollinators such as bees are seeing a gradual decline in Europe overall, not only in Brussels, due to the exploitable loopholes in the European Union’s (EU) rules and laws. Within the entirety of the European commission, only one person was chosen as a full-time official to work on a “pollinators initiative” that’d been unveiled over two years ago.

“Pollinators play an essential role in plant reproduction and ecosystem functions, and their decline should be seen as a major threat to our environment, agriculture and quality food supply,” said Samo Jereb, a member of the EU auditor’s court, responsible for producing the report. “The EU initiatives taken so far to protect wild pollinators have unfortunately been too weak to bear fruit.”

The report went on to say that the member states using the endangering pesticide have been permitted to continue doing so, despite the known, destructive effects they have against bees. Emergency authorisations were granted for the use of three neonicotinoids up to 206 times between the years of 2013 and 2019. These three neonicotinoids are thiamethoxam, clothianidin, and imidacloprid, all banned since 2018 for outdoor use of any kind.

The auditors defended the emergency authorisations of the use of the neonicotinoids by pointing out the distinct lack of alternatives, when combined with arising pressures of illness and spreading disease within their countries. The ban of the neonicotinoids has even led to legal battle at the European court of justice, involving the National Farmers Union in the UK, and Bayer, the German pesticide manufacturer.

The legal battle has led to worrisome rumour among environmental and wildlife activists that the ban could well end up overturned – an act they fear may spell disaster, not only for honeybees and other pollinators, but for many other small but valuable species as well.

“These ‘emergency authorisations’ are supposed to be granted only under exceptional circumstances, but at the rate in which they’re being dished out, it would seem that for some countries exception has become the rule,” said Doug Parr, the chief scientist at Greenpeace UK. “On average, since they’ve been banned, permission has been granted for the use of these deadly pesticides somewhere across Europe every other week.”

It’s been estimated that nearly €15 billion of the EU annual agricultural output can largely be attributed to the existence pollinators, accounting for a large sum. Due to this intensive use of pesticides and development of agriculture, their numbers have been falling, and the currently available data shows that one-out-of-ten species is presently at risk of extinction within Europe.

“On the one hand, millions of euros are spent to support farmers in planting flower strips or replant hedges along their fields to help restore biodiversity; on the other, billions are spent in the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) to support intensive agriculture - which is the main cause of the massive decline in bee populations,” said environment policy officer at Brussels-based NGO PAN Europe, Martin Dermine.

 

By Patryk Krych | © The World Daily 2020

 

 

Categories:
Environment
Tags:
EuropeEUWildlifePesticides