In this issue

Dear friends

We must do all we can to stop everything disappearing. Loss of biodiversity is reaching crisis point – young readers, please talk to older people in your community – who will tell you that there used to be more trees, more insects, more birds, more of every type of wildlife. One of the main reasons why insects including bees and so many other species of insect which are crucial for life on earth - are disappearing - is the use of pesticides.

Here in the UK, along with the rest of Europe, there is acceptance that neonicotinoid pesticides, or ‘neonics’– used in agriculture to control insect pests, had to be banned completely from our environment – because of the colossal harm they were causing to it. One reason it took so long for them to be banned is because it is hard, scientifically, to exactly link cause and effect. Now the EU considers their threat to global pollinator populations so grave – that it will ban the import into the EU of foods containing any trace of some neonics.

It is now revealed, thanks to investigation by Unearthed (part of Greenpeace UK) and Public Eye, that the EU and the UK are shipping thousands of tonnes of neonicotinoid pesticides to poorer countries, years after these chemicals were banned from farms here. Documents obtained under freedom of information rules show that during just four months in 2020, EU member states and the UK planned to export more than 3,800 tonnes of banned insecticides containing neonicotinoids. Exports were notified from eight EU countries and the UK, destined for more than sixty countries around the world – most of them poorer countries. It is in poorer countries that these hazardous pesticides pose the greatest risks – as well as killing terrestrial life they cause colossal damage to aquatic ecosystems, and if permitted to be used, strict control of their use should be enforced. These chemicals are intensely powerful and have effect even when present in trace amounts - very low micrograms per litre.

We urgently need planners and policymakers to understand the risks. Just one example: the Ethiopian Govt’s Planning and Development Commission has a ten-year plan (2021-2030) with one aim ‘to increase the application of pesticides from 15.4 thousand litres to 100 thousand litres’.

It was French beekeepers who were the first in Europe to raise the alarm about the effects of neonics. Please do whatever you can in your community to stop these terrible toxins from being used. Bees for Development is here to help you in any way that we can.

Nicola Bradbear, Director Bees for Development