Young people from Northern Ireland are asking government to support devolved institutions by having a UK wide strategy to provide funding to support farmers delivering valuable ecosystem services, such as providing wildflowers for pollinators.
Our Co Down research 2018 has shown that wildlife-friendly farming supported four times the number of pollinators compared to a farm that had never been managed for wildlife. Insect pollinated crops are valued at £603M per year (UK National Ecosystem Assessment). What food can we buy? How much will it cost us? Can we go out into nature and still be astounded by its beauty? Without bees, we dread to know the answers. The question is not should we save bees, but why have we not already started?