The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published a short review of policy and evidence on Bees and other pollinators. This is a first step in developing a national pollinator strategy for England in 2014 - expert workshops are planned for September and October 2013.
Defra have announced an "urgent and comprehensive review of current policy, evidence and civil society action on pollinators" to inform the development of a national strategy on pollinators.
The EU has just banned the use of neonicotinoids. A feature summary in Nature of research and policy developments relating to the impacts of neonicotinoid insecticides on bees and other pollinators gives a good overview. The European Environment Agency issued the second report on the precautionary principle and impacts from various substances - Late Lessons from Early Warnings: Science, Precaution, Innovation. This follows the earlier review of the history of the precautionary principle Late Lessons from Early Warnings: the Precautionary Principle 1896-2000, produced in 2001.
The UK House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee in April 2013 published the report of its inquiry on Pollinators and Pesticides, with a particular focus on neonicotinoids, which have been causing concern because of reported impacts on both honeybees and wild pollinators. Selected recommendations to the UK government are:
Cameron et al. in PNAS Early Edition - widespread decline of some bumblebee species in the US was shown by the comparison of current ranges from a three-year observation on 16,000 specimens with ranges inferred from 73,759 museum specimens. Higher Nosema and lower current genetic diversity in declining species than in stable species. Would be good to look at genetics of museum specimens, but not covered in this paper.
