Taking action to reverse the degradation of nature is no longer a “nice to have”; it is mandated in the Nature Restoration Law, which came into effect in 2024.
The law includes the need to tackle biodiversity loss across all of our land and sea systems, but one particular group of animals, the pollinators, is called out explicitly.
Ireland, as a member state of the EU, must improve pollinator diversity and reverse the decline of pollinator populations by 2030. We have just five years to reverse serious and ongoing declines in the tiny beasts that keep nature ticking over. One-third of our 99 wild bee species are at risk of extinction.
Pollination is one of the most fascinating, colourful and economically important interactions between plants and animals. The “birds and the bees” elegantly aid reproduction of 90 per cent of plant species on Earth. Hundreds of pollinator-dependent crops provide us with healthy diets and not so healthy treats. Strawberries, apples and cocoa are all highly dependent on animals to move pollen around to stimulate the production of fruit. In addition to the crops, hundreds of thousands of wild plants are critically dependent on pollinators.
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Pollinators are animals that visit flowers, usually attracted by the promise of sugar-rich nectar and protein-rich pollen. When the pollinator visits another flower, some of the pollen gets deposited on a sticky stigma within the flower. If the pollen is the right species, and even the right kind of individual, the pollen grain germinates and burrows its way to meet the ovule of the recipient, fusing to create an embryo, the seed of a new plant.
Worldwide, many different kinds of animals act as pollinators, including beetles, bees, butterflies, birds and bats. In Ireland, we lack the exotic hummingbirds and sugar gliders of the tropics and subtropics, but we have a diverse range of bees, hoverflies, butterflies and moths that quietly go about their essential work servicing the flowers.
In 2015, Ireland led the world in developing the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, a blueprint for actions to help reverse the decline in pollinators. Ecologists Úna Fitzpatrick from the National Biodiversity Data Centre and Jane Stout from Trinity College Dublin recognised something needed to be done to stem the loss of insects from our landscapes, farms and wild places. They created a plan with more than 80 actions that individual people, communities, local authorities and businesses could put in place to help reverse pollinator declines.
Over the past 10 years, two All-Ireland Pollinator Plans have been produced and have become the go-to example of pollinator habitat and species restoration planning in Europe, inspiring pollinator plans in several other countries.
All local authorities in Ireland have signed up to the plan. Areas left wild and unmown for pollinators have become a common sight in parks, along roadsides and in gardens. Action for pollinators is well embedded in our communities, with the Tidy Towns competition having a special award for pollinator-friendly measures.
Over the years, we have learned to appreciate lawns studded with golden dandelions and muted lemon-yellow cowslips. “Weeds” became “pollinator friendly plants” and lawnmowers were parked up for months at a time. Wild orchids popped up on roadside verges outside suburban houses and bumble bees found new places to nest in wildlife-friendly gardens. Our aesthetic senses have been retrained to better appreciate the wild and messy.
Ireland has a 10-year head-start to the kind of action we need to restore pollinators, but it is clear that increased efforts are needed as pollinators continue to be threatened by pesticides, habitat destruction and climate change. The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan is due for renewal for 2026-2030 and this is the perfect time to increase ambition.
The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan has grown from grass-roots involvement and people are being asked to contribute ideas for the next version of the plan. See the consultation page on the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan website to contribute your ideas to bring back the buzz into our countryside, towns and cities. Pollinators need bigger, better and more joined up areas in which to thrive.
- Prof Yvonne Buckley is co-director of Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water, Trinity College Dublin, and board member of the National Biodiversity Data Centre
