Editing Pollinator decline (section)

== Solutions ==
Several scholars have called for application of the [[precautionary principle]].<ref name="Rhodes 2018 pp. 121–160">{{cite journal | last=Rhodes | first=Christopher J. | title=Pollinator Decline – An Ecological Calamity in the Making? | journal=Science Progress | publisher=SAGE Publications | volume=101 | issue=2 | year=2018 | issn=0036-8504 | doi=10.3184/003685018x15202512854527 | pages=121–160 | pmid=29669627 | pmc=10365189 | s2cid=4975400 | quote=[To] know whether or not a wholesale decline in flying pollinators ... is occurring across the world is very difficult, due to an insufficiency of geographically widespread and long-term data. Bees, as the best documented species, can be seen to be suffering from chronic exposure to a range of stressors, which include: a loss of abundance and diversity of flowers, and a decline in suitable habitat for them to build nests; long-term exposure to agrochemicals, including pesticides such as neonicotinoids; and infection by parasites and pathogens, many inadvertently spread by the actions of humans. [Climate] change may impact further on particular pollinators... Moreover, the co-operative element of various different stress factors should be noted; thus, for example, exposure to pesticides is known to diminish detoxification mechanisms and also immune responses, hence lowering the resistance of bees to parasitic infections. [For] wild non-bee insects – principally moths and butterflies – where data are available, the picture is also one of significant population losses. Alarmingly, a recent study in Germany indicated that a decline in the biomass of flying insects had occurred by 76% in less than three decades, as sampled in nature reserves across the country. Accordingly, to fully answer the question ... ‘pollinator decline - an ecological calamity in the making?’ will require many more detailed, more geographically encompassing, more species-inclusive, and longer-term studies, but the available evidence points to a clear ‘probably’, and the precautionary principle would suggest this is not a prospect we can afford to ignore.| doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="victory">{{cite news|title='Victory for bees' as European Union bans neonicotinoid pesticides blamed for destroying bee population|work=The Independent|date=29 April 2013|author=McDonald-Gibson, Charlotte|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/victory-for-bees-as-european-union-bans-neonicotinoid-pesticides-blamed-for-destroying-bee-population-8595408.html|access-date=1 May 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501121949/http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/victory-for-bees-as-european-union-bans-neonicotinoid-pesticides-blamed-for-destroying-bee-population-8595408.html|archive-date=1 May 2013|df=dmy-all|quote=Environmentalists hailed a 'victory for bees' today after the European Union voted for a ban on the nerve-agent pesticides blamed for the dramatic decline global bee populations. ... Dr Lynn Dicks, a research associate at the University of Cambridge, said that despite the contradictory studies, the EU was right to err on the side of caution. 'This is a victory for the precautionary principle, which is supposed to underlie environmental regulation,' she said.}}</ref>

Efforts are being made to sustain pollinator diversity in agricultural and natural ecosystems by some [[Environmental movement|environmental]] groups.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usgs.gov/centers/fort/science/assessment-native-pollinator-habitat-and-diversity-agricultural-ecosystems?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects|title=Native Pollinators in Agricultural Ecosystems|last=Vandever|first=Mark|website=USGS|access-date=24 February 2019}}</ref> In 2014 the [[Obama administration]] published "the Economic Challenge Posed by Declining Pollinator Populations" fact sheet, which stated that the 2015 budget proposal recommended congress appropriate approximately $50 million for pollinator habitat maintenance and to double the area in the [[Conservation Reserve Program]] dedicated to pollinator health, as well as recommending to "increase funding for surveys to determine the impacts on pollinator losses".<ref name=obama>{{cite web|author1=Office of the Press Secretary|title=The Economic Challenge Posed by Declining Pollinator Populations|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/20/fact-sheet-economic-challenge-posed-declining-pollinator-populations|access-date=31 August 2015|format=Factsheet|via=[[NARA|National Archives]]|work=[[whitehouse.gov]]|date=June 20, 2014}}</ref>

Some international initiatives highlight the need for public participation and awareness of pollinator conservation.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Byrne | first1 = A. | last2 = Fitzpatrick | first2 = U. | s2cid = 39864604 | year = 2009 | title = Bee conservation policy at the global, regional and national levels | url = https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00892008/file/hal-00892008.pdf| journal = Apidologie | volume = 40 | issue = 3| pages = 194–210 | doi = 10.1051/apido/2009017 }}</ref> Pollinators and their health have become growing concerns for the public. Around 18 states within America have responded to these concerns by creating legislation to address the issue. According to the [[National Conference of State Legislatures]], the enacted legislation in those states addresses five specific areas relating to pollinator decline: awareness, research, pesticides, habitat protection and beekeeping.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ncsl.org/research/environment-and-natural-resources/pollinator-health.aspx|title=Pollinator Health|last=Legislatures|first=National Conference of State|website=www.ncsl.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-11-29}}</ref>

A 2021 global assessment of the drivers of pollinator decline found that "global policy responses should focus on reducing pressure from changes in land cover and configuration, land management and pesticides, as these were considered very important drivers in most regions".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dicks |first1=Lynn V. |last2=Breeze |first2=Tom D. |last3=Ngo |first3=Hien T. |last4=Senapathi |first4=Deepa |last5=An |first5=Jiandong |last6=Aizen |first6=Marcelo A. |last7=Basu |first7=Parthiba |last8=Buchori |first8=Damayanti |author-link8=Damayanti Buchori |last9=Galetto |first9=Leonardo |last10=Garibaldi |first10=Lucas A. |last11=Gemmill-Herren |first11=Barbara |date=2021-08-16 |title=A global-scale expert assessment of drivers and risks associated with pollinator decline |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-021-01534-9 |journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution |language=en |volume=5 |issue=10 |pages=1453–1461 |doi=10.1038/s41559-021-01534-9 |issn=2397-334X |pmid=34400826 |bibcode=2021NatEE...5.1453D |s2cid=237148742}}</ref>