Bees voted most ‘irreplaceable species’ in the world

28 November, 2008 11:19:00 Kathlyn Stone

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Honeybees on wild fennel. Image courtesy of wolfpix

European scientists draw attention to global plight of bees at Earthwatch debate.

For more photos of bees and other insects visit wolfpix's photostream.

Bees were declared the most invaluable species on the planet at an Earthwatch-sponsored debate held last week at the Royal Geographical Society in London.

On November 20, the European Parliament adopted a resolution (485-13 with five abstentions) calling on the European Commission to increase research into the cause of declining bee populations and to take immediate action to reverse the decline throughout the EU and the rest of the world. Sponsors of the resolution warn that the decline in bees poses a threat to food production. The resolution also calls for research to establish whether there is a link between the use of pesticides, including thiamethoxam, imidacloprid, clothianidin and fipronil, on bee mortality.

George McGavin of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History convinced audience members that bees deserved the designtion because they play a crucial role in world agriculture. He noted that one-quarter of a million species of flowering plants depend on bees, and that without bees, the world would lose flowering plants, and many fruit and vegetables.
Among the major causes of bee declines are habitat loss and fragmentation, increasing use of insecticides, and diseases.
“Bee populations are in freefall,” said McGavin. “A world without bees would be totally catastrophic.”

The other speakers at the “Irreplaceable – The World’s Most Invaluable Species” debate were Ian Redmond OBE, chair of the Ape Alliance representing primates, Kate Jones of the Zoological Society of London, arguing for bats; Professor Lynne Boddy of Cardiff School of Biosciences, representing fungi; and Professor David Thomas of the School of Ocean Sciences, University of Bangor, who was a close second in the debate, with his argument for plankton.

This was the eighth annual debate sponsored by Earthwatch with support from the Mitsubishi Corporation. Previous themes included endangered ecosystems and invasive species.

Earthwatch, an international environmental charity, currently funds 61 environmental research projects in 31 countries in the areas of sustainable resource management, climate change, oceans and sustainable cultures.

For more information visit www.earthwatch.org./europe. The debate will be broadcast in Europe Christmas Eve at 8 pm on Radio 4.

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