Pollinator Week | 26 Jun 2020

Pollinator Week is celebrated from 22^nd June to 28^th June every year.

It was initiated by the non-profit Pollinator Partnership and the USA’ Senate in 2007.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), bees being the dominant pollinators, have around 25,000-30,000 species.
More than 180,000 plant species, including 1,200 crop varieties, across the world, depend on pollinators to reproduce.
Declining Numbers:
- Around 40% of invertebrate pollinator species, particularly bees and butterflies, face extinction across the world.
- In India, wild honeybees of the genus Apis, including the Asian bee and the little bee, have declined steadily for the past 30 years.
- Around 16.5% of vertebrate pollinators are threatened with extinction.
  - Of these, 45 species of bats, 36 species of non-flying mammals, 26 species of hummingbirds, seven species of sunbirds and 70 species of passerine birds face extinction.
Reasons for the Decline: Most of them are the result of an increase in human activities:
- Land-use change and fragmentation.
- Changes in agricultural practices including the use of chemical pesticides, fungicides and insecticides.
- Change in the cropping pattern and crops like the cultivation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and mono-cropping.
- High environmental pollution from nitrogen and heavy metals.
- Growth of invasive alien species.
- Higher temperatures associated with climate change.

Pollination

When a pollen grain moves from the anther (male part) of a flower to the stigma (female part), pollination happens and it is the first step in a process that produces seeds, fruits, and the next generation of plants.
This can happen through self-pollination, wind and water pollination or through pollinators.

Pollinators

Vectors that move pollen within the flower and from flower to flower are called pollinators.
They visit flowers to drink nectar or feed off of pollen and transport pollen grains as they move from spot to spot.
There are two categories of pollinators:
- Invertebrate pollinators: Include bees, moths, flies, wasps, beetles and butterflies.
- Vertebrate pollinators: Include monkeys, rodents, lemurs, tree squirrels and birds.

Pollination contributes to one-third of the world’s agricultural crop production and pollinators can increase crop yield by 24% in small diverse farms and its reduction can pose an immediate threat to mankind’s food and nutrition.
People should leave some areas under natural habitation, promote hedgerows, flower trees and shrub plant diversity, intercropping and try to be less dependent on toxic chemicals and pesticides.
Governments should take proactive steps for bee conservation, recognise apiculture (bee-keeping) as a subject for advanced research and promote it among farmer communities as an additional source of livelihood, which will be a win-win situation for both the bees and humans.