EU to Step Up Bees Protection
After the almost unanimous decision to adopt the ERDŐS Report at the European Parliament, BeeLife enthusiastically welcome MEPs declaration to call for urgent action to protect bee population as the crisis continues in Europe. They have established the following measures as a priority:
- The increase of budget by 50% and improvement of support to beekeepers. - A ban on harmful pesticides. - An action plan to combat bee mortality. - Measures to halt imports of fake honey.
These proposed measures come as good news at a time when some Member States continue to disregard EU legislation and endanger European bees. A key component missing is however not legislation but "action". The adequate implementation and a holistic view of both the problems and the opportunities can help improve the efforts to protect our bees.
MEPs stated that "the EU Commission should look at ways to help beekeepers remedy production losses and member states could introduce a compensation scheme for loss of bee colonies". Nevertheless, we should focus the light on prevention rather than on remedy as vast evidence points towards environmental conditions linked to pesticides as the cause for the disappearance of bees.
BeeLife is committed to helping achieve the best possible result with the ERDŐS report, which is why it is working with its members and partners to ensure the report has all necessary input from the bee-keeping sector. To improve bees environment and help them reach their major role in agriculture, the EU does need "an effective, large-scale and long-term strategy to improve bee health, protect bees and ensure bee repopulation".
This article has been published as a comment to EP's Article: Urgent Action Needed to Protect Bee Population, Urge MEPs