A few months ago, namely on January 24, 2023, the European Commission presented the “New Agreement on Pollinators”, revising the corresponding EU initiative. 2018, which includes measures to reverse the decline in the number of wild insects by 2030. According to scientists, one in ten species of wild bees is threatened with extinction, and this has incalculable consequences not only for agricultural production, but also for biodiversity.

Therefore, as it became known, the Commission will immediately finalize plans for the conservation of endangered species of pollinators, identify pollinators characteristic of habitats protected in accordance with the Habitats Directive, draw up, in agreement with Member States, a network of ecological corridors. for pollinators. The commission also said that it will conduct systematic and strict control of pesticides, as some of them, such as neonicotinoids, are dangerous for pollinators.

And while the European Commission is planning and officially announcing a policy to protect wild bees, member states planned to export more than 10,000 tons of banned bee-killing pesticides a year. Pesticides were mainly destined for poorer countries or countries with weak environmental laws. The results of an investigation by Unearthed, a group of investigative journalists from Greenpeace England and the Swiss NGO Public Eye, were released ahead of World Bee Day yesterday, May 20th. disclosed from the EU The investigation showed that the companies planned to export 13,274 tons of neonicotinoids-based pesticides from 13 EU countries. in 2021.

While it is not known how much was ultimately exported, meaning there could have been more, the biggest exporters to date have been Belgium, France, Spain and Germany. Other countries with significant exports are the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Denmark and also Greece.

Most interestingly, almost half of this amount was intended for Brazil, a country that contains 20% of the world’s biodiversity. But there is a lot of money, and Brazil is far away.