Five new members to promote pollinators during IPBES6

Today, Colombia, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Republic of Ireland joined the Coalition of the Willing on Pollinators. By signing the declaration of Cancún they show their intent to take action and collaborate on promoting pollinators. This brings the total of signatories to twenty-one. The sixth IPBES conference in Medellin, Colombia was the backdrop for this special event.

During the sixth session of the IPBES Plenary on Wednesday, the 21st of March, from 14:00 – 14:45, Promote Pollinators hosted a ‘Sign-up Event’ in the InterContinental Hotel, Medellin to welcome new members of the coalition.

The new signatories emphasised the urgency of taking action to protect pollinators, especially because of their value for human food production. They were particularly keen on collaborating with each other, sharing ideas and knowledge, and learning from each other. They pointed out the need for further research to increase understanding of the role of pollinators and their interaction with plants and crops. The founding partners warmly welcomed the new members.

The Coalition of the Willing on Pollinators
The IPBES assessment report on pollinators concludes that pollinators play a key role in the conservation of biological diversity, ecosystems, food production and the global economy. It also concludes that the effects of current human activities hamper animal pollination. For this reason, a group of countries has started actively cooperating in a Coalition of the Willing on Pollinators: ‘Promote Pollinators’. Members of Promote Pollinators are committed to:

• Taking action to protect pollinators and their habitats by developing and implementing national pollinator strategies;
• Sharing experience and lessons learnt;
• Reaching out to seek collaboration with a broad spectrum of stakeholders;
• Developing research on pollinator conservation; and
• Mutually supporting and collaborating with each other.

Any country that is willing to join in the commitments of ‘Promote Pollinators’ is welcome to do so. There is no formal procedure, except for signing the declaration.

Contact details: Martijn Thijssen, secretariat of the Coalition of the Willing on Pollinators e-mail: thijssen@org-id.org