Declining bee numbers in ‘Eco Eye’ spotlight
Irish bumblebee numbers are declining at an alarming rate every year, according to a top scientist.
The new season of RTÉ’s flagship environmental series Eco Eye is set to shine a spotlight on how many of the nation’s bee populations are being driven to the brink of extinction.
Tonight’s programme explains how, without bees, much of our food production systems would collapse.
In Ireland alone, more than half the native species has declined since the 1980s, with 30% facing extinction.
New data revealed on the RTÉ programme from the National Bumblebee Monitoring Scheme provided by volunteers who scour the countryside counting bees to verify their numbers reveals a shocking downward trend in the country’s bumblebee population.
Tomás Murray of the National Biodiversity Centre which set up the scheme, said their six years of field data show there is an annual rate of decline of 3.7%.
“Ultimately it equates to a 14% loss in six years of our bumblebees,” said Dr Murray.
He said the state of the bumblebee population is a very good indicator of the country’s other 99 species.
RTÉ’s long-running series, presented by Duncan Stewart, ecologist Anja Murray, and Lara Dungan, investigates critical environmental issues.
Leading bee expert Jane Stout said the decline in Irish bee populations is thought to have been driven by a combination of factors which include the loss of habitat, the use of pesticides, diseases, and changing climate.
She said reducing pesticides can play an important role in reversing the decline.
“Providing food, providing safe places to nest, reducing pesticide use, particularly outside our food production systems,” said Prof Stout. “We don’t want to get to that situation where we don’t have the bees, we don’t have the birds, we don’t have the flowers in our countryside.
It would be a very sad day beyond providing foods and crops. These are amazing and fascinating creatures.”
Dara Stanley explains how around 75% of all of our crops globally benefit from insect pollination.
“It amounts to about 30% of the food that we eat,” said Dr Stanley. “Things like coffee and chocolate, lots of the important things in life, come from insect-pollinated crops.”
Eco Eye also uncovers how a Tidy Towns project in Geashill, Co Offaly, where citizens have helped to implement habitat protections recommended in the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, is helping to bring back pollinators in their area.
- Eco Eye will be broadcast tonight on RTÉ One at 7pm.
