13. Meeting of
the Canadian Pollination Protection Initiative
Fly on a New England aster ( Aster
novae-angliae)
Photo: Canadian Museum
of Nature
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The first meeting of the Canadian Pollinator Protection Initiative
(CPPI) was held in Ottawa from January 18-19, 2007 and was attended
by over 80 delegates from the bee industry, federal and provincial
governments, academia, museums, and environmental and agricultural
NGOs. This Initiative represents an expansion of the North American
Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) into Canada and serves to
link Canadian pollinator conservation with similar activities in
the USA and Mexico.
Speakers from universities, governments, NGOs, museums, and the
private bee industries highlighted the historical roles that Canada
has played, and continues to play, in developing the science and
the application of pollination. The enormous importance of pollinators
in sustaining seed and fruit production in our agriculture and horticulture
was made clear. Because Canada has ratified the 1992 Biodiversity
Convention, it is obligated to deliver on those provisions in the
Treaty that deal specifically with pollinating species.
Pollination by insects is directly responsible for generating one
eighth to one third of Canadians’ food and is, therefore,
central to our national food security. Wild pollinators maintain
natural food webs and generate the seeds and fruits upon which so
many of our wild animal species depend. Pollination is the critical
link between the specially co-evolved species of plants and animals,
and their service role is central to maintaining biodiversity across
Canada’s landscapes.
However, there is a decline in insect pollinators and their services
at the Continental and global levels due to the application of pesticides,
diseases of bees, habitat fragmentation and urban expansion. The
conference examined what needs to be done on different fronts to
redress this situation and to enhance the conservation status of
native and managed insect pollinators in Canada.
A strong synergy among the different representatives is apparent,
and this can be capitalized on to deliver enhanced conservation
of pollinating species under this Initiative.
Recognition by the federal government is needed to sanction this
Canadian Initiative with its NAPPC partners. The US and Mexican
governments have already done so. At the same time, a federal inter-departmental
memorandum of understanding is required to assure cooperation, especially
among Environment Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and
Natural Resources Canada. Consistent with this, there should be
a federal-provincial-territorial joint initiative that recognizes
jurisdiction in pollinator/pollination issues, but allows for federal
assistance in achieving conservation at the national level. The
municipalities of Canada should be included in this Initiative because
they have so much control over the local habitats of pollinating
species.
In addition, funding mechanisms should be established to permit
ongoing research in native pollinator ecology and systematics, the
rehabilitation of pollinators in degraded rural and urban landscapes,
and public education. A plan that embraces the roles and participation
of the private bee industries must be established from the beginning
under this Initiative.
The ongoing analysis of existing federal and provincial government
policy and law pertaining to conservation should be expanded, consistent
with the goals of the Initiative. Policy changes in environmental
and agriculture departments and minor amendments to some federal,
provincial, and municipal acts would facilitate the conservation
of pollinators.
The 2007 report of the U.S. Academy of Sciences on the Status of
Pollinators in North America was presented at the conference, which
discussed, briefly, its implications for insect pollinator conservation
in Canada. The Canadian Initiative still has to determine whether,
or not, to adopt its recommendations as the basis for pollinator
conservation throughout Canada.
Strong representations to the appropriate Standing Committees of
Parliament and the Commissioner for the Environment and Sustainable
Development must be made as part of this Initiative to assist government
in doing its part. This Canadian Initiative should be viewed as
an investment by Canada in both its food security and environmental
health. The Initiative is a win-win situation for all levels of
Canadian governments and their parties that endorse it, for the
food-producing sectors, and our national biodiversity.
The future role of the Canadian Initiative is to act as the node
through which the different representatives at the conference can
work together to combine research information, practices, education/outreach,
and policy analyses into the components of a new Canada-wide venture
into pollinator conservation. There is consensus that the CPPI should
become a regular, yearly event but the question which still needs
to be answered is how this initiative is to continue so as to plan
and organize a meeting in January, 2008.
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Yann Vergriete
Project coordinator
Institut de recherche en biologie végétale
The Montréal Botanical Garden
4101, rue Sherbrooke Est
Montréal (Québec) H1X 2B2
CANADA
www.bgci.org/canada
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