The number of wild bees has fallen dramatically since 1990. An expert urges researchers to assume their responsibility and help save the insects who hold the key to upholding human food production.

Van der Sluijs points to the database Global Biodiversity Information Facility, which shows that biodiversity among wild bees has decreased with 25 % since 1990. This is a serious threat to many plants, who depend on pollinators to form seeds and reproduce.

«The decline in bees and other pollinators continues with increasing strength, and we are running out of time,» he says.

Van der Sluijs has recently published an editorial and an article about bee decline in the scientific journal Current Opinion in Insect Science.

Safe pesticides not safe after all

Van der Sluijs and other researchers trace the insect decline to the massive use of modern pesticides that has slipped through the cracks in the otherwise rigorous European regulatory system.

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