Today, the Obama administration announced the first national strategy to promote the health of honeybees and other pollinators.
The report has three overarching goals:
- Reduce honeybee colony losses to economically sustainable levels;
- Increase monarch butterfly numbers to protect the annual migration; and
- Restore or enhance millions of acres of land for pollinators through combined public and private action.
According to the White House, the strategy and its accompanying science-based Pollinator Research Action Plan outline needs and priority actions to better understand pollinator losses and improve pollinator health.
“These actions will be supported by coordination of existing federal research efforts and accompanied by a request to Congress for additional resources to respond to the pollinator losses that are being experienced,” says John Holdren is assistant to the president for Science & Technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Individuals interested in reading the national strategy on pollinator health can find it online at https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/Pollinator%20Health%20Strategy%202015.pdf.
Bayer CropScience calls it a “balanced and multi-faceted approach,” and welcomes the release of the strategy document. Bayer commended the call for extensive new research into all aspects of pollinator health and the unprecedented commitment to increase pollinator habitat and forage.
“While bee populations are not declining, they face many complex challenges, some of which we’re only just beginning to fully understand. Improving honeybee health will take a concerted effort from all stakeholders, including the public, and this strategy will help provide a framework for our collective response,” says Becky Langer, head of Bayer CropScience’s North American Bee Care Program.
For more information from the White House, visit https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/05/19/announcing-new-steps-promote-pollinator-health.
