More than two thirds of UK pollinators are in decline, including many species of butterfly, hoverfly, moths and bumblebees.
Buglife wants to inspire the public, government, business and agriculture to recognise the problem, to and act collectively to do something about it.
Buglife held an event on May 17th at The Royal Society in London to launch the Get Britain Buzzing campaign. Our You-tube 'Get Britain Buzzing' video provides a summary
“Pollinators put food on our plate and colour in the countryside, for the sake of future generations we must take action now to halt the tragic loss of wild bees and other pollinating insects” Matt Shardlow Buglife CEO.
Tony Blair speaking to the “Get Britain Buzzing” launch expressed concern at the declining populations of pollinators, stating that they are in fact “fundamentally important to the environment and the country” and underlining that “It’s the next generation that will live with the consequences, if our stewardship of the environment is not properly maintained, and we don’t live up to the obligations we have”.
The aims of Buglife’s campaign are
- To raise funds to help protect and restore wildflower habitats for UK pollinators
- To increase our understanding of why pollinators numbers are declining.
- To stop extinctions and decline of pollinators in the UK.
- To let people across the nation know how critical pollinators are to our everyday lives, for example for food production.
- To persuade politicians to pursue policies which help conserve pollinators.
Buglife is delivering a range of exciting and innovative projects including: B-Lines creating swathes of wildflowers, Pollen Nation converting urban mown grass into wildflower meadows, Brownfield sites protecting and improving pollinator habitats, Living Roofs creating high rise pollinator habitat, encouraging people to create bee hotels in their gardens and pesticide policy work on those chemicals that are most toxic to pollinators.
The Get Britain Buzzing scheme has attracted in interest of senior politicians in the coalition government including Biodiversity Minister Richard Benyon and has the backing of, Germaine Greer, Bill Oddie and Tony Blair.
You will find more pictures from the event on our Buglife Facebook pagePlease follow us on Twitter @Buzz_dont_tweet for updates about the campaign.
Make a donation towards the Get Britain Buzzing campaign by clicking on this link.
