What is Pollinator Protection?

What is Pollinator Protection?

Pollinator protection encompasses the policies, practices, and initiatives designed to conserve and restore populations of animals that transfer pollen between plants, enabling reproduction in approximately 87.5% of flowering plant species. Key pollinator groups include bees (over 20,000 species globally), butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, birds, and bats. Their conservation addresses multiple interrelated threats: habitat loss, pesticide exposure, disease, climate change, and invasive species.

Why It Matters

Pollinators underpin global food security. An estimated 75% of leading food crop types and 35% of global food production volume depend on animal pollination. The economic value of pollination services to agriculture is estimated at $235-577 billion annually. Crops including almonds, blueberries, apples, cocoa, coffee, and vanilla are heavily or entirely pollinator-dependent—without adequate pollination, yields decline and food costs increase.

Pollinator populations are in documented decline. A landmark 2019 review found that 40% of insect pollinator species are declining, with one-third threatened with extinction. Managed honeybee colony losses have averaged 30-40% annually in the US over the past decade. Wild bee diversity has declined significantly in intensively farmed landscapes across Europe and North America. The drivers—habitat loss, pesticide exposure (particularly neonicotinoids), parasites, and climate change—operate synergistically, making the problem worse than any single factor would suggest.

Corporate exposure to pollinator decline is growing. Food and beverage companies, agricultural input manufacturers, retailers, and investors face supply chain risks from reduced pollination services. Companies like General Mills, Nestlé, and Walmart have launched pollinator protection initiatives, recognizing that their supply chains depend on a service that cannot be cost-effectively replaced at scale. Managed pollination (trucking honeybee hives to orchards) costs US agriculture over $500 million annually and is itself vulnerable to colony losses.

The regulatory landscape is tightening. The EU banned outdoor use of three neonicotinoid insecticides in 2018 following EFSA risk assessments. Additional pesticide restrictions are under review. The US EPA has strengthened pollinator risk assessment requirements for pesticide registration. State-level pollinator protection plans are proliferating across the US.

How It Works / Key Components

Habitat creation and restoration provide the nesting sites, foraging resources, and overwintering sites pollinators need. Wildflower strips along field margins, hedgerow restoration, meadow creation, and urban pollinator gardens all contribute. Research consistently shows that landscapes with at least 20% semi-natural habitat support robust pollinator populations. The UK's agri-environment schemes have demonstrated measurable pollinator recovery where habitat creation is implemented at landscape scale.

Pesticide management reduces chemical threats to pollinators. Integrated pest management (IPM) minimizes pesticide use through biological controls, cultural practices, and targeted application. When pesticides are necessary, selecting compounds with lower pollinator toxicity, applying during periods of low pollinator activity (early morning, evening), and avoiding bloom-period applications reduce exposure. Buffer zones around pollinator habitat provide additional protection.

Agricultural practices can support or undermine pollinators. Monoculture landscapes with limited floral resources between crop blooms create "food deserts" for pollinators. Diversified farming systems, cover crops, reduced tillage (protecting ground-nesting bees), and organic management all support pollinator health. Regenerative agriculture practices that rebuild soil biology and plant diversity tend to support more robust pollinator communities.

Monitoring and research programs track population trends and evaluate intervention effectiveness. Citizen science programs (Bumble Bee Watch, Great Sunflower Project) generate broad-scale data. Academic research on pollinator health, pesticide impacts, and habitat requirements informs evidence-based policy. Corporate pollinator monitoring on agricultural supply chain lands is an emerging practice.

Council Fire's Approach

Council Fire helps food and agriculture companies assess pollinator-related supply chain risks, develop pollinator protection strategies for owned and leased lands, and integrate pollinator considerations into sourcing standards and supplier engagement programs. We connect ecological requirements with business imperatives to build resilient agricultural supply chains.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are bees dying?

No single cause—multiple stressors interact. Key factors include habitat loss (reducing food and nesting resources), pesticide exposure (particularly neonicotinoids and fungicides), parasites and disease (Varroa mite in honeybees), climate change (disrupting bloom timing and range), and nutritional stress from monoculture landscapes. These stressors compound each other.

Can technology replace pollinators?

Not at scale. Robotic pollination and hand pollination exist but cost orders of magnitude more than natural pollination. In parts of China where pollinator populations have collapsed, hand pollination of apple and pear orchards costs $50-100+ per tree. For crops like almonds (1.7 million acres in California alone), technological replacement is economically infeasible.

What can companies do to protect pollinators?

Adopt pollinator-friendly pesticide policies across supply chains, create pollinator habitat on owned and managed lands, support supplier adoption of integrated pest management, invest in pollinator research, and report on pollinator-relevant metrics. Industry initiatives like the Pollinator Health Task Force provide collaborative frameworks.