Title: The Ian Potter Foundation awards 1 million to deliver a pesticide reduction pollination strategy for Australia
The Ian Potter Foundation has awarded the When Bee Foundation (WBF) $1 million over 5 years to deliver a pesticide reduction pollination strategy for Australia. "Many of the insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and fertilisers commonly used in agriculture and horticulture can be highly toxic to bees, impacting bee health and numbers." the WBF point out.
The Wheen Bee Foundation (WBF) was established in 2009 by Gretchen Wheen (1929-2012), a pioneering queen bee breeder concerned by the increasing threats to pollinators from pesticide overuse. She bequeathed her estate to WBF to safeguard pollination security.
WBF engages with governments, the apiculture industry, agriculture, research organisations and the broader community. They support and deliver research, education and conservation initiatives that strengthen bee and other pollinator populations, improve pollination efficiency and increase food security and ecosystem health. WBF won the global Golden Bee Award 2024 for their work advancing the role of pollinators in ensuring food security, sustainable agriculture, nature conservation and biodiversity.
This project will deliver an Australian National Pollination Strategy (ANPS) to provide coordination across pollination services and pollinator-dependent industries and strengthen Australia’s biodiversity, ecosystem health and food security. In Australia, pollination services for agriculture and the environment are provided through a combination of managed honey bees, feral honey bees, managed native bees and wild native bees, and other native insects, birds and mammals. At least 53 of Australia's crops rely on pollinators. Despite this, pollination in Australia is largely unmanaged.
The ANPS seeks to balance agriculture's needs with the protection and enhancement of the environment and biodiversity. Developing a national strategy will unite diverse commercial and environmental sector stakeholders and identify priority scientific research, policies, and best management practices. The project will engage in community consultations, undertake research, and use a co-design process to draft the first Australian National Pollination Strategy and an implementation plan.-It is highly collaborative involving 55 industry partners, environmental groups, corporate partners, research institutions, and state/territory governments. The creation of a national strategy offers excellent transformative potential to help Australia prepare for a looming threat to the environment, and food production and security. Original source
