Bees and pollination are on decline
Pollination is essential for agricultural production, biodiversity and human welfare. But bees are under pressure. The exposure to insecticides is among the most important stressors to bees and can affect indiviudals, colonies and entire populations of bees as well as pollination. Another stressor arising is climate change. Although we are currently experiencing only the first impacts of climate change, there is already evidence for serious effects on bees and pollination. At the same time, the importance and cultivation of crops that benefit from or are dependent on pollination are strongly increasing.
We do not know enough
Our knowledge about individual impacts from insecticide exposure and different characteristics of climate change on bees and pollination is still limited, but it is almost non-existent for combined effects from these stressors. It is likely that insecticides and climate change will have combined effects on bees with uncalcuable impacts on pollination and thereby on crop production, food security and biodiversity. Hence, to support pollination in the future, it is timely to assess possible effects on bees and to create a significant base of evidence for farmers and policies.
A new strategy to save bees
The BALANCE PROJECT is fundet by the Government Research Council for Sustainable Development FORMAS and has two main aims. Firstly, the project aims to fill knowledge gaps about how different insecticides and climate change impact bees, alone and in interaction and how potential effects transfer into crop yield quantity and quality. Secondly, the BALANCE PROJECT aims to test and introduce a new strategy to limit effects from insecticides to bees. The strategy is based on the application of insecticides in different concentrations to limit exposure to bees, while simultaneously providing pest control, thereby balancing pest control and pollination.